Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Follow Your Heart
by kyokotheeevee
Summary: When a human named after a certain YouTuber wakes up and discovers he has turned into a Pokémon, he sets out to find the truth about his transformation. Just your average Mystery Dungeon story... right? (Repost from BlackPearlNamine. I am the original author.) I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!
1. Prologue: In the Future

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

**Does this story look familiar? It probably is. My friend, BlackPearlNamine, posted it here before I got my account. She also mentioned that it was originally written by a friend. Well, guess what? I'm that friend. I'm the original author of this story. BlackPearlNamine has taken down the original and left me to post the whole story. So you're gonna have to follow me if you want to see the rest of the story.**

**Keep in mind this is my first fic, and it could DEFINITELY use some improving. I would appreciate constructive criticism, but don't be too harsh.**

**This story also has a lot of references to certain individuals and other franchises. If you don't like a reference in this story, PM me and I ****_might _****remove it. No promises.**

**Well, I think that's everything of importance. So just sit back, grab a bag of chips, and enjoy.**

XxX

**Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Follow Your Heart**

Prologue: In the Future

I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for my accompaniment. He should be here any minute. But time didn't flow here, in the dark future that I was from.

_Drip_. A drop of rain fell on my nose. Before you could say "time travel", rain was drizzling down, getting me all wet.

"Grr… c'mon… Hurry up, you big green oaf…" I grumbled.

"What did you call me?" The voice startled me. I turned and could barely see the green outline of my friend: Grovyle.

"Oh– er… nothing. So, you've got your little time traveling pal with you, right?" I asked.

We had been planning this for so long now. Grovyle and I both hated living in this future. The sun never shone, the wind never blew, and everywhere you looked, there was nothing but gray. We wanted to change that, so Grovyle alerted his friend (which he wouldn't tell me the name of) who could apparently travel through time. With his help, we could go back to the past and change this bleak future.

"Ready for action!" The voice made me jump, because I was expecting a guy to speak. This voice was feminine with a sassy edge to it.

The sky was dark, so I could barely see the outline of Grovyle and whoever this newcomer was. But next to Grovyle, if I looked hard enough, I could see a faint pink outline of a tiny figure that appeared to be hovering.

"Um… and you are?" I asked the pink shape.

"I'm Celebi! I assume Grovyle told you about me?" she said.

"Yeah… She's the time travel Pokémon I mentioned a while ago," Grovyle put in quickly.

"I assumed you'd be… bigger," I said blankly.

"Bigger! I only need to be big enough to activate the Passage of Time, don't I?" she huffed. "Speaking of which, the Passage should be just through this forest."

I looked in front of me and saw that there was a huge wall of shadow in front of me that I could only assume was a forest.

Thunder rumbled, and a flash of lightning briefly illuminated the sky.

Then I heard something that sent a shiver down my back. A distant voice, cold, dark, and forceful, yelled something that sounded like, "They're just ahead! Don't let them escape!"

Grovyle cursed under his breath. "Our plan has attracted some… unwanted attention," he said quickly. "I'm fairly sure that there are bunches of nasty Pokémon after us as we speak. So… let's get going before they catch us."

"Right," Celebi agreed.

And before we could lose our nerve, we plunged into the forest.

Grovyle and Celebi darted ahead of me, and I struggled to keep up. I wasn't as agile as Grovyle, and I certainly couldn't fly like Celebi.

By now it was really raining. The wind ripped through my stringy black hair, forcing me to occasionally stop to brush the hair out of my face. The rain pounded hard. Thunder boomed like a cannon, and occasionally lightning streaked across the sky. I would've gotten lost if it weren't for this lightning.

Celebi acted as sort of a beacon as well, because whenever she flew quickly or made any sudden movements, she would shimmer a little bit, as if she was wrapped in a sparkly shroud.

The most unnerving part of our journey through the forest was the rustling and shouting behind us. I was sure that it was the thing– or things–that we heard earlier. I wasn't sure what they would do to us if they caught us, and I didn't want to find out.

Once I tripped over a large root and landed flat on my face. I tried to get up, but I just kept tripping as the voices behind me got closer.

_No. I'm not going to let these guys take me, _I said to myself as I tried to regain my footing, but by now I had lost the duo of friendly Pokémon and now had to face the not-so-friendly Pokémon.

"Up here! The human fell down!" someone jeered. His voice was loud and raspy, like a reptile. Behind me, the trees shifted, and two things emerged. I couldn't see them very well, and I was glad that I couldn't see them better.

Four more things emerged and surrounded me. I was trapped, my breathing shallow, my body sopping wet, my hair strung messily in my eyes.

The creatures began to advance, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the worst.

"Oh no you don't!" I opened my eyes and saw Celebi floating next to me. She touched my arm and… A white light flashed in my eyes. The next thing I knew…

"Oh! You're okay!" I found that I was in a clearing of sorts. Above us, there was a gap in the trees. I could see the stormy sky above me. Ahead was a well-weathered path and a sort of rock.

Grovyle leaned on the rock, looking relieved. "I was so worried! I wouldn't want you to fall in the hands of those guys."

"Whoa. Celebi, did you… How did you save me?" I asked.

"Well, I noticed that you were gone, and I turned back and looked for you. When I found you, I teleported you out of danger. I can do that, you know. I can teleport people and Pokémon away," Celebi explained.

"If you can teleport things away, how come you can't just teleport us to the Passage of Time?" I said.

But Celebi never got to answer my question. I heard the voices of whatever was behind me resuming. The rustling began again. Celebi just sighed.

"We'll worry about that later. For now, just know that I can't. Okay? Oh! That reminds me, the Passage is close. We're almost there!" she said.

I looked at the two Pokémon. "All right. So… let's go."

Celebi and Grovyle flitted through the dark woods, leaving me behind to tromp through the woods. In a matter of minutes, my blue shirt and jeans were stained and ripped, and I had many cuts and bruises all over me. The rustling behind me continued, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, but I evaded the creatures as best as I could. I luckily didn't lose Grovyle and Celebi again, which was good.

Eventually the trees began to thin and the ground began to rise up. Before long there was a small plateau up ahead of us.

"The Passage of Time should be just up this plateau!" Celebi informed.

"So we're gonna have to climb, then," Grovyle muttered.

"Yep," Celebi confirmed. "But I have complete confidence in you!"

"…Uh huh," Grovyle said, unconvinced.

"C'mon! All we have to do is climb!" Celebi said brightly.

That was easy for her to say. Celebi could just fly up. Grovyle and I had to get to the top the hard way, climbing up the steep, rocky sides of the plateau.

At first it was easy. But then my hands started to throb. A few minutes later, I realized that I had blisters on my hands. Every time I grabbed hold of a chunk of rock, a pulse of pain shot through my hand. The rain didn't help either.

"They're climbing up the plateau! Get them!" We were about halfway up when we heard the deep voice commanding the creatures below. We were pretty far ahead of them, but I knew that could change in an instant.

"We're almost there!" Celebi said to us for the billionth time.

"You said that ages ago!" I complained.

"Well, this time, I mean it!"

"We've still go a long way to go!"

"Don't think negative or we're all dead!"

We didn't talk for the remainder of the hike.

Finally we reached the top of the plateau. Ahead of us, there was a white tunnel shimmering with light.

"This is it. The Passage of Time," Celebi said.

I stopped and looked at my two companions for a little while.

"You do know what may happen if—" Grovyle began.

"Oh I know. And I'm sure Emile knows, too," Celebi interrupted.

I nodded. "I know the risks. But if it's to change this world…" I let that thought sit there for a moment.

"I trust you'll be okay, Celebi?" Grovyle said, breaking the silence.

"Yep. I'll be fine," Celebi said.

The voice below us yelled something. It now sounded as if it was much closer.

"You guys should get going before they get here. And, Grovyle?" Celebi said, turning to my friend. "Never, ever lose hope."

It was too dark to tell, but I thought I saw Grovyle blush.

"You too, my dear Celebi," he said.

"Safe travels." And with a flash of white light, Celebi vanished.

Grovyle looked at me. "All right. We should go straight back to the past once we step into the Passage. I know this will be awkward, but I think we should hold hands so we don't get separated. Time travel is a risky business, you know."

It was my turn to feel embarrassed. "Yeah. Okay. Sure," I muttered.

Grovyle clasped my hand. "Ready?"

"Ready."

And taking one last look at the dark world, we stepped into the portal.

As soon as we stepped in, I felt like my head would explode. We were hurtling forward at a zillion miles per hour, watching a blur of images streak by. I kept a tight hold on Grovyle's hand, despite the nausea.

After a little while, I almost dared to hope that we'd safely make it to the past with no rough spots. Then Grovyle and I would set out to make things right…

But then everything darkened. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, as if the storm had followed us into the Passage.

"Ack!" I said in surprise.

I could tell Grovyle was surprised as well. His grip faltered for a second, and I thought that I would get separated. We seemed to slow down a little.

"What's this?" Grovyle said.

Lightning illuminated the darkness, and suddenly I was aware of a spherical blob of darkness hurtling towards Grovyle.

Fear closed up my throat, making it hard to breathe. That blob of darkness would definitely hit Grovyle, and it would severely injure or even kill him. Then I would be without a guide in the world of the past. And I needed all the help I could get.

"Look out!" I cried.

"What?" Grovyle said. But he was too slow. Instantly I knew that he would get hit with the shadowy ball. That wouldn't be good.

Before I knew what I was doing, I yanked Grovyle's arm and pulled him across, thus switching sides with him. I was vaguely aware that the blob was about to hit me, but hopefully I would survive. After all, I couldn't die at a time like this.

_BLAM! _The blob exploded at my side and sent an intense pain through my body.

"Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa…! Are…are you OK?!" Grovyle said, realizing what happened.

I winced. "I-I'm fine!" I didn't think that Grovyle was convinced, though. And quite honestly, I didn't believe my words, either.

"No! Don't let go!" It was only then that I realized that I was starting to slip free from Grovyle's grasp. I felt the pain flood my body and I began to lose consciousness. "Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!"

My mind felt like bursting. Everything was going black. For a scary second, I lost Grovyle's grip and began to drift away. I clawed feebly around, and then I felt Grovyle. I held on to his arm with all my strength, but no… I was slipping away…

"N-n-no! I can't...hold on...!" I yelled weakly. And it was true. I could barely hold on, and it was only a matter of time before…

I completely lost Grovyle. I felt myself falling… falling… Pain took over my body… I could barely move… Everything was going black…

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed. But now no one could hear me… I was alone… falling… fainting…

Everything went black.

XxX

**Whew! One chapter done, way too many to go... I'd better get writing!**


	2. Chapter 1: On the Beach at Dusk

**Does that name sound familiar?**

**The protagonist's name is Emile, which is a reference to the Let's Player Chuggaaconroy. ****If you don't like him, keep your opinions to yourself. Don't spam "Chuggaaconroy is st00pid" in the review section.**

**And with all that out of the way, I present to you Chapter 1. Enjoy.**

Chapter 1: On the Beach at Dusk

I slowly swam into consciousness, though I was still weak. I had no strength, and my brain was foggy and unclear. I had no idea where I was.

_W…where am I? _I thought.

I panicked for a moment, but then I suddenly felt tired. I began to lose consciousness.

_N…no… I can't… drifting… off…_

XxX

"…o? He…o?" The soft voice brought me back to life. I could barely move. I couldn't lift my eyelids to see who was speaking. But the voice didn't sound familiar…

"Hello? Are you awake? Are you even alive?" the voice said, growing increasingly edgy. I still couldn't open my eyes. Now I was more awake, and I noticed tiny details about my surroundings. I felt a bed of soft grainy sand below me, and I heard the whoosh of some waves to my left. Where was I? On a beach?

_No, that can't be right, _I thought. _The last thing I remember is…_

Panic began to seep into me. I couldn't remember anything. Nothing. My mind was completely blank. Well, I could remember my name: Emile. I also had the faint feeling that I was something I wasn't supposed to be…

I heard someone take a deep breath next to me. Then a second later…

"WAKE UP, YOU STUPID RIOLU!" the voice yelled. That hit me like a bucket of icy water. I sat straight up in alarm.

"Wha-who—?" I sputtered. I couldn't help but notice that my voice sounded different…

"Oh, good. The dead rises." After I blinked the black spots out of my eyes, I found that I was indeed on a beach. Soft sand was below me. Off to my left an ocean splashed. A beautiful sunset turned the sky orange and red. I also saw something (or someone) in front of me.

It was a light shade of green, and it had two eyes, a mouth, four stubby legs, and a leaf on its head. I had never seen anything like it before.

_What's that Chikorita doing in front of me? _I thought. Then I realized that I had called it something. _A Chikorita… What's a Chikorita? _I've never even heard of a Chikorita.

"Who… Who are you?" I asked. "Heck, what are you?"

The thing (what was it… a Chikorita?) began to laugh.

"Oh, really! Who are you joking with? You should know that I'm a Chikorita! I mean, really! Any normal Pokémon such as yourself should know that!" the Chikorita said.

_So that IS a Chikorita! But… how did I know that? And wait. Did she just say…?_

"Any normal Pokémon such as yourself"?

What?

No way! Last time I checked I was… a human…? Yes. That was what I am. That was my only memory I had left. I knew my name and I knew that I was a human. That was it.

"Whoa. Slow down. Did you just say I was a Pokémon? Because… I'm not. I'm a human," I said. The Chikorita burst out laughing again.

"Hahahahaha! Aren't you funny! You are not a human. You are a Pokémon," she said.

"But I am a human! I really am!" I insisted.

"Hee hee hee! Please! Have you forgotten what you look like?" she giggled.

_Yes, I have forgotten what I look like, _I thought.

"If you really have forgotten, then go look in the water!" the Chikorita said. She seemed barely able to contain herself.

I unsteadily got to my feet and hobbled over to the water, which was shining brightly in the setting sun. I looked into the waves and got my biggest surprise yet.

_Holy Mother… I've transformed into a Riolu, _was my first thought.

_Wait. A what? _was my second thought.

I was short now, very short, and very furry, too. Everything was mostly blue, but my feet and my chest were black. There was also a black "mask" over my reddish eyes. My blue ears stuck straight up, and on my blue paws were white bumps.

"Aagh! I-I've turned into a Riolu!" I yelled, stumbling back. The Chikorita lost it.

"GAH! Hahahahahahahahaha… please… stop… I… need… to… catch… my… breath… ha…ha…ha…" she laughed. Then the promptly collapsed on the ground, roaring with laughter.

I certainly didn't think it was funny. I'd been turned into a Pokémon, had my memory wiped, been teleported into a strange world of talking Pokémon, and now a green blob was laughing at my troubles. Life wasn't so good for me now.

The Chikorita was finally calming down now. "Ah ha ha… ha… ha. So! A comedian like you must have a name. So what is it?" she asked.

"My name? It's Emile. What's yours?" I replied.

"My name is Jade. Just call me Jade the Great," Jade said snootily.

"Ha ha. Very funny. So why are you bugging me?" I asked.

"Oh." Her tone suddenly turned serious. "See, there's something I want to ask you. So, in this world, there are places called—!" But before she could say what she wanted to say, she yelped and stumbled forward, dropping a stone fragment. Behind her, two figures emerged. Maybe it was some sort of Pokémon instinct, but I recognized the things behind her as Koffing and Zubat.

"Whoa-ho-ho! So sorry, girlie!" Koffing sneered with false sympathy.

"Want us to pick it up for you?" Zubat said.

"Um—"Jade began.

But before she could finish, Zubat flew over to the fragment and picked it up with some difficulty. He gave it to Koffing, who smiled down at us.

After a minute, Jade said, "Well? Are you going to give it back?"

The duo began to laugh uncontrollably. "Whoa-ho-ho! Man, are you dense! See, we're thieves. We ain't giving this back until you make us! Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing laughed.

A look of surprise flashed across Jade's face, but it was almost instantly replaced by a look of sheer anger and hatred. "Oh, you little… Give that back RIGHT NOW!" Jade yelled, her face red and her body shaking in rage.

"Heh-heh-heh! Watch out, girlie! You might fry that little leaf off your head!" Zubat taunted.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing laughed.

It may have been instinct, but I knew that I had to do something now. I couldn't let Jade get teased and robbed by these idiots. Even if Jade wasn't the nicest Pokémon out there, I didn't want to see this happen to her.

"Stop teasing her! And give that rock back to her now!" I said as fiercely as I could. To my dismay, the duo of Pokémon didn't stop. If anything, they got even more unruly.

"Whoa-ho-ho! And who is this runt? Your _boyfriend_?" Koffing said. Jade exploded with fury.

"HE! IS! NOT! MY! BOYFRIEND!" Jade roared.

"Just give it back, for God's sake!" I said.

Koffing and Zubat glanced at each other. "Okay, we'll make you a deal. If you can get through this dungeon and defeat us at the end, we _might _give this back to you. You got that?" Koffing said. He hovered over to a large cave that I hadn't noticed before.

"It's not like she'd have any chance of getting through it. Heh," Zubat said in a loud whisper. He flew over to the mouth of the cave with Koffing. Jade was completely silent.

"See you later, chicken," Koffing said. The two vanished into the cave.

Jade turned to me, and I was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Emile… um… to tell you the truth, I… They were right about something. I am a chicken. I don't really have the courage to face them myself. So… I was wondering… maybe… could you lead me in there? P-please! I would be so much braver if I had you with me! Please!" she said softly.

If Koffing and Zubat hadn't just taunted her that badly, I would've said "no" right away. I didn't want to escort a feisty Pokémon like Jade into a mysterious cave. But now… Now that Koffing and Zubat robbed her and poked fun at her I just had to say yes. Jade needed help. And I was willing to give it to her.

"Okay, Jade," I said.

Jade smiled. "Oh thank you! Thank you! I'm so happy!" she squealed.

She looked at the cave. "Okay, you go first. I'll follow you and guard against attacks from the back," Jade said.

"Whoa. Did you say attacks?" I said.

"Yeah. There are Pokémon in there that may want to get rid of us. But we'll get rid of them first, won't we?"

"Um… yeah, I guess…"

"Alright. Let's go."

And together, we walked toward the cave.

XxX

**I decided to try something new in this story. In pretty much every PMD story, the protagonist's partner is kind and thoughtful. But in my story, Jade the Chikorita is feisty and rather rude. But if you get to know her, Jade is actually kind of nice. She's kind of an up and down type. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
**


	3. Chapter 2: Beach Cave

**Emile and Jade's first dungeon! YAY!**

Chapter 2: Beach Cave

I walked into the cave first, with Jade a few steps behind me. I could barely see a thing, which was odd, because I thought that the sun would come in through the mouth of the cave. I looked behind me, and where the entrance should've been there was nothing but darkness, as if the cave had swallowed us. There was no turning back now.

"Okay. So where are we?" I asked.

"We are in a mystery dungeon. Like the name implies, it is mysterious," Jade said.

"Why is it so mysterious?" I said.

"Well, a mystery dungeon is a multi-floored area. Somewhere there should be stairs leading to the next floor. The layout of these dungeons change every time you visit it," she explained.

"Okay… So there are a lot of floors… You said that the layout changes every time you visit a dungeon? How are we supposed to find where the stairs are?" I said.

"I don't know. I suppose you'll just have to follow your heart," Jade said.

"…Okay. Anything else I should be aware of?" I asked.

"Yeah. There's tons more to explain. There are mean Pokémon in these dungeons, by the way. They will attack you, and if they attack you too much, you'll faint and get kicked out. And try not to faint. Then you'll lose half of your items and half of your money," she continued.

"You can get items?"

"Yeah. There are items in these dungeons that will help you in various ways. And of course, there's money. We call it Poké. You can use it to buy stuff."

"There are shops here?"

"Just stop asking questions! Let's go."

It was a lot to take in, especially considering what happened to me. But I didn't mind it. If anything, I felt as if I needed to know this information. It was almost as if… I needed to use this information later… But we wouldn't be going into _another_ dungeon… right?

By now my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. I could see a hallway off to my right. "I see a hallway now. Just follow me, okay?" I said.

I turned down the hallway and almost instantly got tackled by something.

"Jade!" I moaned.

"It wasn't me! I promise! It was… It was that Shellos!" Jade said, gesturing to something in front of me. It took me a second to see it, but I could barely see the outline of a large blue slug: a Shellos.

"Ahh!" I yelped, stumbling back. Slugs weren't my favorite thing.

"Relax, fearless leader. That guy is super weak. Just use one of your moves," Jade said.

"My—" But then it dawned on me. All I have to do is…

Before I realized what I was doing, I lunged forward and bit the Shellos. Surprisingly, it didn't taste funny at all.

"Shell!" the Shellos screeched. Then it disappeared.

"Great job, Emile! Only nine hundred ninety nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine enemies to go!" Jade congratulated.

"Whoa. What?" I said. I did some quick math in my head. (Well, I still knew how to do that, thankfully.) "So you want us to kill… one million enemies…? Where will we find the place? Or the time?"

Jade just smiled, which wasn't much of an answer. "You'll see…"

Girls.

Anyway, we went through the hallway and ended up in a huge room with a hunk of pink coral smack dab in the middle of the room. I took one step and realized that the coral took a step, too.

_Oh man, a Corsola, _I thought.

I took two more steps, and the Corsola was right in front of me. It smirked and tackled me, and I fell down right on my bum. It hurt.

_This is embarrassing. Tackled down by a piece of pink coral, _I thought again. I tried to get up, but it tackled me again, this time knocking me on my back. My head hit the wet stone floor with a _thunk! _

My body was now screaming in pain. _Is this… the end? Already? _I thought. The Corsola smiled triumphantly and got ready to hit me again, but it never got the chance. Suddenly its eyes shot open, and with a wail, it disappeared like the Shellos. Jade appeared behind it.

"Um, you're welcome," Jade said.

"Thank you," I said.

"Alright. The stairs are just up ahead. Will you be able to make it?" she said.

I tried to get up once again, but pain coursed through my body and I couldn't do it.

"Oh, you can't, can you? Well then… What to do… Oh! I know! Somewhere in here there is a berry that may be able to heal you. I'll go look for one. Stay here, okay? And if anything attacks you, just attack it back," Jade said.

I blinked and stared at Jade with a new respect. In just a few minutes, she had gone from a snarky, sarcastic Chikorita who yelled at me multiple times to a caring Pokémon who wanted to keep me alive. What a change.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jade said.

"Um…" I said.

"You have a way with words. I'll be back soon, I promise!" Then Jade took off into a corridor, leaving me alone.

Finally.

I wanted some time to just be alone and think.

Me, a Pokémon. How did that happen? And on top of all of that, I had my memory wiped. So I had no idea who I really was or where I'm from or how I go here.

_Think. What's the last thing you remember? _I prompted myself. _Well, I remember waking up on the beach… But what happened before that? _I tried to think. I searched my brain and found that it was all blank. The only things that I could remember were the recent events that happened once I woke up on the beach.

_On the beach… _I thought back to the beach. Looking back on it, I remembered a tiny detail: my ears were ringing once I woke up. It was as if I was exposed to a loud sound for a prolonged period of time.

_Hmm… That's a start… A loud sound…_

But before I could think more, I heard a loud wail, and then some hurried footsteps.

"Wah! G-get away from me!" I instantly recognized the voice as Jade. I lugged myself up off the ground (which took a great deal of energy) and began to stumble to the corridor Jade disappeared down.

No sooner had I done that when Jade appeared, cut and bruised. She seemed to be limping slightly. Behind her was a flat rock thing that I recognized as a Kabuto.

"Emile! I got your berry! Eat it and get your sorry butt over here to help me!" Jade cried. Looking carefully, I saw that she had a small blue berry in her hands. It was so tiny that I didn't think that it would help much. But I was out of options.

"Throw it!" I said.

With all her might, she threw the berry at me. It landed at my feet, and I picked it up and examined it. It was sky blue, with a firm feel to it.

_I hope this helps, _I thought bracingly. Then I put the berry to my mouth and began to eat it.

The berry was sweet and tart, like an orange. It tasted really good, and only later did I realize that every bite seemed to be giving me energy. Once I finished eating, I was ready for action.

I leapt into battle, jumping in front of Jade to take an attack for her. Then I rammed into the Kabuto with all of my might. It disappeared almost instantly.

"Emile! Whoa, dude! You've got guts!" Jade said respectfully.

"Yeah, whatever. It was nothing," I said modestly.

Was it just me, or did it seem to get hotter?

"Alright, are you okay? I don't want to have to fetch another berry for you," I said.

"I'm fine. Let's get going. Koffing and Zubat won't stay put forever," she replied.

"You're right. We should get going," I said.

Like Jade said, there were stairs that led to another floor in the dungeon. They were one-way trips, and when we finished going down them, they vanished.

As for the enemies, they were no problem. We knocked them down like bowling pins before they even got a hit on us. As we progressed through the dungeon I seemed to be growing stronger… or was it just me?

During our trip, I almost seemed to temporarily forget my problems, you know, with my transformation into a Riolu and all. I immersed myself in my work, and I only thought about how close we were to Koffing and Zubat.

It must've been maybe the third or fourth floor when we heard something weird echoing off of the wet walls. As we wandered around more, it got louder. Then, when we were at the stairs, we could finally hear it.

"Whoa-ho-ho!"  
"Heh-heh-heh!"

Laughter.

"It's Koffing and Zubat!" I whispered.

Jade made a strange noise, and when I looked at her, she looked about ready to explode from anger.

"Oh my Arceus… I could just kill them…" she said through clenched teeth.

"Well, why don't we?" I said.

And together we descended down the stairs.

Once we got down the stairs, I had to stop and admire the view. We were on a small flat rock that formed a sort of island. All around us, deep blue water splashed. A huge opening in the rock that enclosed us revealed the sea shining in the multicolored sunset. I would've been content to just sit down and watch the sunset, but unfortunately, we couldn't. Someone was blocking the view.

Koffing and Zubat hovered in front of the opening, laughing their brains out. Jade's stone slab lay behind them. Instantly I knew that we couldn't sneak past the thieves. We had to fight them.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Whoa-ho—huh?" Koffing's laughter abruptly turned to confusion once he noticed us. "You two look familiar!" he said.

"Yeah, well so do you. You're the idiots who stole my Relic Fragment!" Jade said, her anger barely contained.

"Oh yeah! You're the chicken we mugged on the beach! You and your _boyfriend_ are here to defeat us?" Zubat sneered.

"HE! IS! NOT! MY! BOYFRIEND!" Jade roared.

"How do you think she had the guts to get through that dungeon?" Koffing said, ignoring Jade's outburst.

"Oh, I know! Maybe she cried so hard that the Pokémon in there just _died!_" Zubat teased.

"'Wah! Mommy, I'm so scared! I think I might wet myself!'" Koffing sneered in a bad impersonation of Jade's voice.

"That is ENOUGH!" Jade screamed, leaping at Koffing. She tackled him down easily.

"Emile! Let's fight them!" Jade said.

"Alright!" I clenched my fists and ran up to Zubat.

Zubat was no different than all the other enemies that were in the dungeon. He was very weak and his attacks barely hurt me at all. He went down quickly. I turned my attention to Koffing… and that's where things went wrong.

Jade was seriously hurt. She was lying on the ground, beaten and bruised. A purple gas surrounded her and kept her pinned down.

"Emile! Watch out! He's poisonous— ack!" She winced and began to writhe on the ground.

I couldn't bear to see Jade in pain. I ran up to Koffing and tackled him with all my might. Koffing went down, and the purple gas around Jade disappeared.

She got up unsteadily. "So. Are you guys going to leave? Or are you going to stick around for another beating?" she snarled.

The thieves whimpered, their bravado gone. "L-let's go!" Koffing squeaked.

And the two flew behind us into the darkness, leaving us alone with Jade's Relic Fragment.

"Yeah! We did it! We sure dished out some damage!" Jade said.

"Yeah…" I agreed woozily.

"So… Do you have any idea how to get out of here?" Jade asked.

I was silent. I was so busy fighting that I didn't have any time to think of an escape route. I scanned the room, but I didn't see the stairs. I was slightly panicking now. I looked around a second time and my eyes fell on the huge opening in the rocks.

_Huh… If I can see the sun from here and the beach… _I thought.

I turned to Jade, who was retrieving her Relic Fragment. "Jade?"  
"Yes?" she said.

"I hope you know how to swim."

XxX

**Have you ever wondered how you get out of your first dungeon? Apparently, you swim out of it.**


	4. Chapter 3: Wigglytuff's Guild

**One dungeon down, fifty something more to go...**

Chapter 3: Wigglytuff's Guild

"Bleah! That was the dumbest idea EVER!" Jade spat once we got out of the cave. I was right about the beach being outside of the cave, and we had to swim for it. I was okay at it. But poor Jade… She couldn't really swim. She just flailed about, splashing me and making a big scene. It's a miracle that she didn't lose her Relic Fragment.

"Sorry! It was the only way that we could get out! Unless you want to stay in that cave forever—" I said.

"And I'd almost rather stay in there!" Jade snapped.

"Hey! You made it! That's an achievement!"  
"Barely! I had to doggie-paddle!"

"Let's finish arguing later. Now… you owe me some explanations. What did you want to ask me before Koffing and Zubat butted in?"

Jade's expression hardened. "Um… okay. So, do you know what we just did, right? We explored a dungeon. Well… Do you see that cliff behind you?" she said.

_A cliff?_ I didn't notice a cliff when I first woke up on the beach. Then again, I suppose the shock of getting turned into a Pokémon can really make you less observant. But now I could see it clearly: a huge cliff with a staircase leading to the top.

"Yeah? Well, on top of it, there is a guild called Wigglytuff's Guild. Members of the guild do what we did: they go into dungeons and help out Pokémon and stuff like that."

"Why are you bugging me about it?" I asked.

I almost instantly regretted saying it. Jade smiled.

"See, we have to have at least two members to enroll in the guild! I'm not brave enough to go in there myself! And you seem very brave. So…"

I grimaced. I knew what was coming.

"I want you… to make a contract with me so we could form an exploration team!" she said grandly.

"Wait. I have to sign a contract?" I asked.

"Oh, no. I lied about that. It's an in-joke. But in all seriousness, will you form an exploration team with me?"

_What? She's just trying to recruit me out of the blue? What should I do? Refuse? _I thought. I pondered about what I should do for a minute. Then I asked Jade a question.

"Now hang on. You said we had to go through dungeons like that on a daily basis if we enroll the guild? We got injured a lot in that dungeon alone! If we have to do that day after day… So why do you want to do that?" I said. In answer, Jade pulled out her Relic Fragment.

"This is my Relic Fragment. It's my dearest treasure. It gives me courage, and hope, and stuff like that. But this Fragment is also very mysterious to me," she said, running her hand over its surface.

"See the pattern etched onto this? It's really weird," she said.

I looked at it and saw what she meant. Carved on the Fragment was a very odd and complex pattern.

"That_ is _weird… Where did you get this?" I said.

"Well… That's that thing. I don't remember. And because of that, I was thinking that if I were to join the guild, I may be able to solve this mystery!" Jade said.

I was silent, absorbing the information. Then I began to think. But not about Jade. About myself.

_I may be able to solve this mystery! _Jade had said.

_Solve this mystery… Solve this mystery about myself! I can find out why I became a Pokémon and who I was before! Maybe… _I thought. I had made up my mind.

"Okay, Jade. I'll form an exploration team with you," I said.

Jade's eyes widened. She smiled. And she knocked me over with a huge hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Oh my Arceus, this is so exciting! How can I ever thank you…" Jade squealed.

"You can thank me by getting off me," I groaned.

"Oh… right…" Jade said meekly.

She lugged herself up and began to run toward the cliff, not checking to see if I was following her.

Once we got to the top of the cliff, I saw a huge structure. Coming closer, I realized that the structure was a huge… tent. I don't know what else to call it. Sure, it was a tent, yellow in color with orange markings on the side. But the top was truly bizarre. It was pink, with two pink "ears" like rabbit ears sticking up. On its "face" were two "eyes" and a mouth in a wide smile. In short, it looked like a giant pink bunny.

Right by the tent, two totem poles with faces of Pokémon stood. Two torches blazed in front of the totem poles. And right in front of us, an extremely unsafe-looking metal grate was embedded in the ground.

Jade stopped in front of the grate and took out her Relic Fragment. She held the fragment close to her heart and took deep breaths, as if trying to calm herself down. Then she looked back at me, trembling fiercely, and said, "I'll go first, okay?"  
Before I could respond, she stepped on the metal grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" a tiny voice squeaked.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" a much louder voice boomed.

"The footprint is Chikorita's! The footprint is Chikorita's!" the quiet voice said.

There was a pause. I heard someone sigh, and some hurried discussion. Jade was drenched in sweat and shaking like crazy. She looked back at me and squeaked.

"Eep! I-I'm scared!" she said. But despite her nervousness, she stayed on the grate.

"SO. You have the NERVE to come back here? This guild is only for the BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE! NOT YOU CHICKENS!" the loud voice roared.

"I'm-I'm not a chicken!" Jade said back in a tremulous voice.

"Since WHEN did you decide to be BRAVE ALL OF A SUDDEN?!" the voice spat in outrage.

I walked up to the grate. "It's probably because I'm here!" I called down.

There was a silence. Then…

"Is that voice your friend?" the voice said, now much calmer.

"Yeah! And he wants to come in too!" Jade said, now much more confident.

"…Alright. Tell him to step on the grate," it said.

"Right!" Jade said, leaping off the grate. She let out a sigh of relief.

I stepped on the cold metal grate. Almost instantly the tiny voice began to yell again.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" it said.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" the loud one demanded.

"The footprint is… the footprint… is…" The voice trailed off.

There was another pause. Jade looked at me.

"Um… what's… going on?" she said.

"DIGLETT?! DO YOU NOT KNOW THE FOOTPRINT?!" the loud voice yelled suddenly.

"Sorry, Loudred! Um… I think it's… um… The footprint is… Maybe Riolu's! Maybe Riolu's!" the tiny voice (which must've been Diglett's) said a bit desperately.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, MAYBE?!" the loud voice (which was probably Loudred's) boomed.

"Um… I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's just… you don't see many Riolus around here…" Diglett said quickly.

"That's true…" Loudred said thoughtfully.

There was another pause. Jade shifted uncomfortably.

"Um… should we leave?" she said, looking devastated.

But then there was a loud sigh, and Loudred said, "I'm probably going to regret this but… you may enter."

Jade broke into a grin. "Yay, Emile! We can go in! Exploration team, here we come!" she said. She raced into the tent, and I had no choice but to follow her.

The interior of the tent was small; only containing two signs, a knitted wall mural and a ladder leading down into the ground. Jade flew down the ladder faster than you can say "Pokémon". I followed her down and emerged in a huge room.

Another ladder was embedded in the ground next to us. It probably led down to another sublevel, but that wasn't the interesting part.

We were in a huge hollowed out area with soft grass at our feet. All around us, Pokémon of all shapes, sizes and color bustled about, running errands, talking with other Pokémon, or staring at one of two enormous corkboards posted on opposite walls. A few windows had been planted into the walls.

Jade ran up to one of the windows. I followed her up to it.

"Whoa! Even though this place is underground, we can still see outside!" Jade said giddily.

"This guild is built into the side of a cliff. So of course it'd be natural to see outside." The voice startled me. I turned around and saw a multicolored parrot thing, a Chatot, behind us.

"Um… yeah…" Jade muttered.

"Anyway! I am Chatot, the Head of Intelligence around here. And now I must ask you to shoo!" he said.

Jade looked up suddenly, looking as though Chatot had said something horrible. "SHOO?! What do you mean?!" she cried.

"We don't want any silly salespeople or stupid survey takers around here. We simply do not have time for that," Chatot said calmly.

"But we don't—" Jade began. But Chatot interrupted her.

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" he said.

"But—"

"Shoo! Now! Or I will alert the Guildmaster!"

"We're not salespeople! We want to form an exploration team!" I interjected firmly.

Chatot finally shut his beak. "Hm? You want to form an exploration team?"

"Yeah. Or, at least, that's the plan," I said.

Chatot tilted his head thoughtfully. "Ah, are you sure you want to join us? We have a very strict training program. We've had many teams try to run away in the past. But they can't," he said darkly.

That should've terrified me. But I held my ground. "I don't care how strict your training is. We want to form an exploration team."

"That's right!" Jade agreed.

Chatot looked at us for a moment. Then he began to laugh. "Ha ha! Who said our training was strict? Certainly not me! Hee! Hee hee! Now, c'mon! Let's get you guys registered!" he said cheerfully.

Then he flew (literally) down the other ladder.

We looked at each other. "Man, what a mood swing…" I said. Then we followed him.

Chatot was standing in front of a pink door when we got down the ladder. "You are about to meet Wigglytuff, the Guildmaster. He can be a bit… odd at times, but he's got a nasty temper," he warned.

"Yeah, okay! I just want to get registered!" Jade said impatiently.

"Okay." And Chatot opened the door.

We walked into a cozy, warm room that smelled like herbs and burning incenses. Two torches stood beside a knit rug, and a huge mural like the one we saw earlier was tacked up on the back wall.

Standing on the rug was a Wigglytuff: a pink bunny thing that resembled the face on the tent upstairs. Wigglytuff stood completely still like a statue, and he didn't give any indication that he had seen us enter.

"Er…Guildmaster?" Chatot said uncomfortably.

Suddenly, Wigglytuff smiled and struck a strange pose. "Hiya!" he said cheerfully. "I am Guildmaster Wigglytuff! And who are you friendly friends?"

Jade glanced at me with a puzzled look on her face.

_He sounds like a little kid. How did he become a Guildmaster? _was all I could think.

"Um… I'm Emile… and this is Jade," I introduced.

"They want to form an exploration team," Chatot explained.

"Exploration team! Yay! Okay, what's your team name?" Wigglytuff said with a wide smile.

"Team name? Oh, I didn't think of that…Do you know of a good team name?" Jade said, looking at me.

"Nope. I'm blank," I said.

But I began to think.

_Hmm… a team name… _

"How about Team Poképals?" Wigglytuff suggested.

"No! That's too cheerful! I want to be something epic, like Team Diamond or Team Daybreak!" Jade said.

"Why don't we name our team Team Diamond or Team Daybreak?" I asked.

"It doesn't fit us," Jade said simply.

For the next few minutes we bounced ideas off of each other. Wigglytuff kept making cutesy names (Team Fluffy! Team Friends!) and Chatot suggested nerdy names, (Team Calculus!) but we just couldn't decide.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, Jade screamed.

"Emile! Your hand is on fire!" she yelled.

I looked down, and sure enough, both of my hands had a light blue fire surrounding them.

"Ahhhh! Wha-what IS this?!" I screamed, waving my hand about. Chatot chuckled.

"Emile, that is your 'aura'. All Pokémon have it, but you Riolus have the ability to control aura. Sometimes, when your emotions run high, like when you're angry, your aura will show. Experienced Riolus can do all sorts of things with aura," Chatot explained.

_That's strange. I have aura. And… wait. _

_Aura…_

"Team Aura!" Jade and I said simultaneously.

"Team Aura? Okay! Registering… yoom… TAH!" Wigglytuff said. He beamed at us. "Okay, friendly friends! From now on, you'll be known as Team Aura!"

"Cool!" Jade said.

"Oh, wait! Really quick…" Wigglytuff turned around, and when he turned back to face us, he had a worn treasure chest in his hands. He set the chest down. "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" he said.

We looked at the chest for a second. Then we did the only logical thing to do if you find a chest: we opened it.

Inside we found a brown sash made of worn leather. "That's your Treasure Bag! If you find items in dungeons, you'll put them in this bag. It can only hold sixteen items now. But as you progress up your explorer team ranks, you'll be able to hold more items," Chatot said.

"Ranks?" I asked.

"Don't worry about that for now. Say… why don't you open up the sash? There may be something in it," Chatot said.

I unfastened the sash and found a blue bandana, an old looking map, and four white badges. I took them out one by one and put them on the ground.

"Those badges are Explorer Badges! They signify your status as an exploration team. Also, if you are at the end of a dungeon and touch them, you will return to the guild!" Chatot explained as we pinned them on.

"But why are there four badges? Our team only has two members," I said.

"You'll see…" Chatot said slyly.

Jade picked up the blue bandana and examined it. "Ah, that's a Power Band! Wear it in a dungeon and your attacks do more damage!" Chatot said.

I looked at the map, which was old and worn, as if other exploration teams before us had used it. "That's your Wonder Map! Whenever you find a new location, it will be recorded on this map!" the Music Note Pokémon explained.

"Man! What a load!" I said. We were about to exit the Guildmaster's chamber when suddenly, out of nowhere, a thought emerged.

_Are you sure you got everything out of the bag?_

Such a strange thought prompted me to double check the bag. I began to dig around in the bag, and eventually my hand fell upon a piece of cloth. I pulled it out and found that at the very bottom of the bag, a green ribbon lay. The ribbon radiated a slight tingle down my body when I touched it, and it almost seemed to glow.

"Hm… What is that?" Chatot said curiously.

"I don't know…" I admitted.

"Well, if it's in there, it has to be in there for a reason," Chatot said.

"You're right. Maybe if I put it on…"  
I tied the ribbon around my neck like a bowtie, and energy surged through my body. I felt as if I could crush a rock. Interesting.

"You two will begin your training tomorrow. But keep in mind: as you are apprentices, you must stick with our training schedule. You can't just go exploring all willy-nilly," Chatot said.

"Right! So you should do your best… to train!" Wigglytuff piped up suddenly.

"Now, dinner should be almost ready. After a long day's work, you'll have some downtime here at the guild. However, you are not permitted to come into the Guildmaster's chamber. So shoo!" And with a wave of his wing, Chatot beckoned us out.

Once we exited Wigglytuff's chamber, we were immediately confronted by one of our new apprentices: a sunflower named Sunflora.

"Oh my gosh! New apprentices? What's your team name?" she squealed.

"Team Aura!" Jade said proudly.

"Really? I'm on Team Edward…" Sunflora's expression turned dreamy.

Jade made a strangled sound next to me. When I turned to face her, she was staring at Sunflora with a look of repulsion on her face.

"Oh really? I'm on Team Jacob!" A new voice butted in on our conversation. I turned and saw a white and pink Chimecho behind us.

Sunflora growled. "Well, at least Edward doesn't have a shirt allergy!" she wailed.

Chimecho turned red. "Let's just finish this argument later! It's dinner time!"

All activity in the guild stopped. Then suddenly a handful of Pokémon all chorused: "HOORAY!" The next thing I knew, we were being stampeded over by our fellow guild members.

"Oof…" I groaned as I sat up.

"I guess its dinner time…" Jade said woozily.

We walked in the direction that our fellow apprentices had stampeded and emerged in a mess hall. All sorts of Pokémon, including Chatot, were eating a tasty meal on a long table. At the end of the table, two untouched meals lay: one for me and one for Jade.

"Dinner time," Jade said with a smile.

We had a very enjoyable dinner. The food was delicious and filling and the Pokémon were nice. During dinner we got acquainted with our other guild members: Sunflora, Chimecho, Loudred, Diglett, Dugtrio, Bidoof, Corphish, and Croagunk. Wigglytuff was there too, but he didn't eat. Instead, he bounced an apple on his head while singing, "Perfect Apple… Perfect Apple…" which was very amusing.

After dinner, Chatot explained that it was time to go to bed. We were shown to our room, which consisted of two piles of straw that were itchy yet strangely comfy.

"Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the Nincadas bite!" Chatot said. Then he left us alone.

"Whew! What a crazy day!" Jade said.

"Yeah, no kidding…" I said.

"Man, I'm so excited, I can't fall asleep! But we'll need our rest for tomorrow's training," she said.

"Yeah, you're right. So… good night, Jade," I said.

"Good night, Emile," Jade said. She turned over on her bed of straw and tried to go to sleep. I tried to follow suit, but I just… couldn't. My mind was still buzzing from the day's events.

_So in one day, I've been turned into a Pokémon, contracted amnesia, washed up on a mysterious beach, retrieved an item, and joined a crazy guild with a pink rabbit as the master. It has been some day, _I thought.

I touched the green bow that I tied around my neck. There was no doubt that I looked kind of stupid, but hey, Jade didn't look much better with her blue Power Band.

_Alright, Emile. Let's freak out about this tomorrow, _I told myself.

I turned over on my bed of straw and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

_Tomorrow… I'll begin my job as Team Aura's leader…_

XxX

**I'm very sorry to anyone who likes Twilight! I didn't mean to offend anyone! Really!**


	5. Chapter 4: Drenched Bluff

**I think this chapter is kind of bad in terms of writing. I would appreciate if you would give me suggestions on how to improve this chapter. Thank you.**

Chapter 4: Drenched Bluff

"NEWBIES! WAKE UP! IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR THE MORNING BRIEFING!" Loudred's voice jerked me out of my sleep.

"Time for the morning brief—wait. Did we—" I began.

"SLEEP IN?! YOU BET, ROOKIES!" Loudred roared.

"Ugh…" I muttered.

"Look, the Guildmaster has a nasty temper. He'll unleash it on all of us if we're late to the briefing. And I ain't gonna get scolded by that Wigglytuff just because YOU TWO are LATE! SO GET MOVING!"

"Oog… Let's go!" I said.

So I lugged myself out of bed, dragged Jade up, and ran into the main room where all of our fellow apprentices were gathered.

"Okay, Guildmaster! All accounted for!" Chatot said.

Wigglytuff's door opened up, and the Guildmaster walked out.

"The Guildmaster would like to say something!" Chatot said.

Wigglytuff just stared at us for a minute. Then he promptly began to snore with his eyes wide open.

Everyone began to whisper to each other. "Eek! He's sleeping with his eyes open! So weird!" Sunflora whispered.

"The Guildmaster never fails to amaze me!" Chimecho said.

"And with those… er… words of wisdom, let's begin our daily cheer!" Chatot said quickly.

"A one… A two… A one two three… ONE! DON'T SHIRK WORK! TWO! RUN AWAY AND PAY! THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" everyone chanted.

Jade and I just stood there as the whole scene unfolded.

"Do we have to do this every day?" Jade asked.

"Okay, Pokémon! Time to get to work!" Chatot said cheerfully.

"HOORAY!" everyone said. All of the Pokémon scattered about and began to do jobs. But what could we do?

For a moment, we just stared awkwardly at each other. After a minute or so, Chatot called us over.  
"Emile! Jade!" Chatot said.

We walked up to Chatot.

"Yes?" Jade asked.

"Okay, you two. Today you'll begin your training," Chatot said.

"Training?" I asked.

"Yes. Follow me." Chatot flew up the ladder.

We did the only think we could think to do. We followed him.

When we went up the ladder, we found Chatot standing at one of the enormous corkboards we had seen last night.

"Alright. As you may know already, our goal at this guild is to help out Pokémon. So our 'training' is going into dungeons and helping out Pokémon," Chatot explained.

"How do we help Pokémon?" I asked.

"Well, they may need rescuing in a dungeon. Or they may have lost an item in a dungeon. Or they may just want to explore with you," Chatot said.

"Okay…" I said.

"So if a Pokémon needs help, they write up a note and post it here. Then they wait for a team to take their job. Then, once a team does the job, they offer a reward," Chatot said.

"Oh! So we just take a note and go to a dungeon to do the job! I get it!" Jade said.

"Precisely."

"Okay! So let's find a job!"  
"Ah, but it's your first day here. I think that I should pick your job," Chatot put in.

Jade grumbled something that sounded like "Bird-brain."

Chatot looked at the board thoughtfully for a second. Then he finally said, "Aha!"

He tore off a note and read it aloud to us:

_Dear Explorers,_

_Help me! I am Spoink, and I have lost my dearest  
treasure: my pearl! I've heard it's been sighted at  
a place called Drenched Bluff. But the bluff is a  
very dangerous place! I can't go in there myself!  
Please! Brave explorers! Find my pearl!  
_

_From, Spoink._

"Aw, that's it? All we have to do is find a lousy pearl? I wanna go find treasure or discover some ruins or something cool like that!" Jade complained.

"Now, now, good apprentices don't complain about their work. And in every dungeon, there will be treasure, like money and valuable items. Oh, and you'll also get paid," Chatot said.

That won Jade over completely. "Ooh! We'll go! Sure thing! Let's go, Emile! To Narnia!" she squealed. She grabbed my arm and began to pull me to the ladder, but I yanked free. Why? I had a question for Chatot.

"Chatot?" I asked.

"Hm?" Chatot said.

"Why are there so many dungeons around here?" I asked.

Chatot paused and tilted his head thoughtfully. "I think… I think it has to do with the flow of time," he said.

"Time? As in hours and minutes?" I said.

"Yes, time. For whatever reason, the flow of time has been out of whack and bad Pokémon and dungeons are appearing…" He turned to me and examined me with a meaningful expression… as if he knew that I had washed up on the beach with amnesia.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go!" Jade said impatiently.

But I wasn't so eager to go. I was busy thinking about what Chatot said about time. It really intrigued me. _Maybe… It's really crazy, but maybe… my transformation has to do with the flow of time! ...Well, it's plausible… _I thought.

"You two! You need to get going! Don't shirk in your work!" Chatot said.

And Jade pulled me up the ladder.

Soon we were at Drenched Bluff. The entrance was a grassy pathway with rocks along the sides. The path was, well, drenched with water, as if a tidal wave had washed over this path. A little further ahead, I saw the entrance to a cave.

"Okay! So once we get through this dungeon we should find Spoink's pearl," Jade said.

"So let's go! Remember rule number one of our chant: don't shirk work!" I said.

"That stupid chant? Please," Jade said.

"Whatever."

Before long we were in the dungeon. Drenched Bluff reminded me of the Beach Cave that we navigated through yesterday: wet with a lot of water-type Pokémon. It was also like Beach Cave due to the fact that every Pokémon was super easy to defeat.

On the fourth floor, I was beset upon by an Anorith, which was like a crab and a shrimp fused together.

_No problem. I'll just use Bite, _I thought.

But for some reason, I didn't use Bite. Instead my muscles reacted by themselves, and I raced forward at a blinding speed. I tackled the Anorith, and it disintegrated.

"Emile! When did you learn Quick Attack?" Jade said, looking impressed.

"Quick Attack? I don't know…" I admitted blankly.

"Whatever! Let's just go and find the pearl!" Jade said.

"Okay," I said.

_Quick Attack… So I can learn new moves in addition to my old ones? Interesting… _I thought as I forged through the dungeon.

A few floors later, we walked up a flight of stairs and emerged in a small area. Green grass grew all around us. Rocks surrounded the grass. Ahead of us, a small fountain with crystal clear water gurgled. And right in front of the fountain sat a small, pale pink sphere. A pearl.

"Whoa. That must be Spoink's pearl!" I said.

"Well, you're Captain Obvious," Jade grumbled.

I walked over to the pearl and picked it up gingerly, so as not to drop it.

"Alright. So how do we get back?" Jade asked.

"…Hm. Didn't Chatot say something last night… like… 'If you are at the end of a dungeon and touch them, you will return to the guild?'" I said.

"Um… yeah. He did say something like that…" Jade said.

"Well, it's worth a shot." I put the pearl in my bag, which was now full of Oran Berries, (the berries that healed me in Beach Cave) a few Apples (hey, exploration sure leaves a Pokémon hungry!) some Blast Seeds, (when I ate one, I could breathe fire at enemies!) and some Geo Pebbles. (I could throw them at enemies.) I could only hope that it wouldn't be crushed.

"On three?" I asked.

"On three," Jade agreed.

"Okay. One… two… three… go!" I said as we touched our badges. A yellow light surrounded us, and the next thing we knew, we were outside the guild.

A lot of time had passed since we entered the dungeon. When we entered Drenched Bluff, it was morning. Now the sun was setting behind the big pink tent. It made me wonder if this is what Chatot meant when he said time was getting out of whack: if you go in a dungeon in the morning, when you emerge, it's almost nighttime.

We walked up to the guild, and much to Jade's relief, we didn't have to do the whole "Pokémon detected" scene when we stepped on the security grate.

We walked into the guild and went down the ladder, only to almost get knocked over by a small gray thing. A Spoink, I realized. The Spoink had a small leather sash that flailed about as he jumped around.

"My pearl! My pearl! I need it!" the Spoink said as he bounced around.

"Don't worry, Spoink. I'm sure Team Aura should be back soon," Chatot said comfortingly.

"Team Aura is back _now_," I said.

"Ah! Emile! Jade! Do you have Spoink's pearl?" Chatot asked as he noticed us.

"We sure do," I said, unfastening the bag. At the very top was the pearl, smooth, clean, and unbroken. I took it out and presented it to the hyper Spoink.

"Here's your pearl!" Jade said. Spoink stopped bouncing and approached us.

"Oh? Is that… Is that… my pearl? Yes! It is my pearl! Oh, how can I ever thank you?" Spoink said reverently.

"You can thank us with some money," Jade said snootily.

"Jade!" I said.

"Oh, that's okay. I've got just the thing!" Spoink said. He then took a large, bulging pouch out of his sash.

"Take this! It's 2,000 Poké!" Spoink said.

Jade stared at Spoink. "2… 2,000 Poké? We can really have all of this?!" she cried.

"Of course! It's nothing compared to my pearl's value!" Spoink said with a smile.

Jade took the pouch and held it up, muttering something that sounded like, "You got the thing!"

"Wow! This much money? Is it really okay to get paid that much?" I said.

"Actually, no it isn't," Chatot interrupted. Then he took the huge pouch from Jade. Needless to say, she was furious.

"CHATOT?! You said that we would get paid! Why are you taking away our money?!" Jade spat.

"This guild can't keep going if we don't keep up with our funds. So therefore, we need to take away some of the money our apprentices earn from doing jobs," Chatot said.

Jade was silent.

"Hey, but you still get paid!" Chatot paused, opened up the pouch, and fished out a handful of coins. He handed it to us. "You still keep 10 percent of your earnings! C'mon! 200 Poké! That's nothing to sneeze at! You could buy some Apples and Berries and stuff!" Chatot tried for a smile. Neither of us mirrored him.

"Grr… stupid birdbrain…" Jade muttered.

"Anyway, dinner's almost done now. You'll have some downtime before dinner, so you can just hang out. Congrats on your first job!" Chatot said.

"Thanks," Jade muttered, sounding as if the word left a bitter taste in her mouth.

We did have a little downtime before dinner, so Jade and I just made small talk back and forth. We watched as the guild members tricked in from their jobs. They either looked triumphant or sad.

Finally, after a few minutes, Chimecho called us in for another enjoyable dinner. Many of our fellow apprentices congratulated us on our first job.

"The first job is the hardest. It gets easier, hey, hey," Corphish assured us.

Dinner passed, and soon it was time to go to bed. Jade and I went to our rooms and sat down on our straw beds.

"Whew! What a day!" Jade said.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

I was actually somewhat upset that I didn't find out anything about my transformation other than it might have to do with the flow of time.

_It's only the first day, Emile. You shouldn't expect any answers for a little while, _I chided myself. But I was still kind of miffed.

"Well, we should get some sleep now. We'll need it for tomorrow," Jade said.

"Good night," I said, lying down on the bed of straw.

"Good night." And almost instantly, Jade fell asleep.

I quickly followed her example.


	6. Chapter 5: Mt Bristle

**Whew! This is a long chapter. I'm wondering if I should split it up into two chapters... Let me know in the review section!**

Chapter 5: Mt. Bristle

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared, shaking us out of bed.

"Oog… Good morning, Emile…" Jade said sleepily.

We dragged ourselves out of bed and walked into the main room, where we participated in the daily cheer.

"Okay, Pokémon! Time to get to work!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" we concluded. Then everyone dispersed to their jobs. We made our way to the ladder, but Chatot called, "Emile! Jade!"

We walked over to Chatot. "Yes?" I said.

"Today you'll be doing a different kind of job. You'll have to… Well, it would be easier just to show you." Chatot flew up the ladder.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's follow him!" Jade said.

Once we emerged on the next sublevel, we saw Chatot standing to our left next to a giant corkboard identical to the one on our right.

"Hello, you two. Today I would like you to do a job from this board," Chatot said. He moved out of the way so that we could get a good look at the board.

It was crowded with notes that had pictures of Pokémon. The Pokémon looked strong and tough.

"Ooh! These are cool looking Pokémon! Are these celebrities?" Jade said.

"These Pokémon… are criminals," Chatot said darkly.

I gasped. Jade turned red and muttered something that sounded like, "Excuse me, princess."

"Because time is not flowing properly, bad Pokémon are popping up. But! We can fix that! If a bad Pokémon shows up, nice, law-abiding Pokémon post a notice here. Then we go and try to defeat the outlaws. I want you to do a job on this board today. But first…

"Bidoof?" Chatot said.

"Yes, Chatot?" he said. Bidoof had a funny accent that sounded like a cowboy's accent.

"I want you to show our new apprentices Treasure Town. Once you're finished with that, bring them back here and select an outlaw job," Chatot requested. Bidoof went red.

"Aw, shucks. Certainly, Chatot, sir," he said.

"Thank you," Chatot said.

Chatot then went down the ladder.

"Aw, shucks. I-I'm glad that you came here. Before you came, I was the newest member here…" Bidoof said.

"Um…" I said.

"Anyway, let's go, yup, yup!" Bidoof said.

Bidoof led us up the ladders and out of the guild. Soon we were at the crossroads that we had been to yesterday.

"Oof… I hope that I don't mess up this job…" Bidoof muttered.

"Don't worry, Bidoof. You'll do fine," I assured him.

"Oh… thank you…" Bidoof looked about ready to faint. "Anyway, um… Treasure Town is… just outside the guild… and um… we should go and… er… look at it…" he stuttered. Then he stopped talking and began to lead us to the right of the guild.

"And… um… welcome to Treasure Town…" Bidoof stuttered.

It was a very festive place. All around us, Pokémon were talking to each other. There were structures all around us that were shaped like Pokémon. A few yards ahead of us, a bridge spanned a river and led to another section of the town. Totem poles and teepees were set up all around.

"Whoa," I said as I took in the scene. "Are those shops?" I asked, gesturing to the Pokémon structures.

"Yeah… um… that's the Duskull Bank right next to us… He'll keep your money safe…" Bidoof said. Duskull Bank was a sinister looking place run by a little ghost: a Duskull. Duskull looked like he was wearing a skull for a mask. A single, glowing red eye floated in his head.

"Yes. I'm Duskull. And you are?" Duskull said.

"Oof… um… He is Emile… and she's Jade… They're apprentices at the guild…" Bidoof said nervously.

"Wonderful. I'll open a savings account for them. Before going on risky explorations you should deposit your money in this bank. It won't get lost if you faint. I'll guard it with my life. Hee hee…" Duskull explained.

"Yeah… um… and next… next is… Oof! I'm getting super jittery!" Bidoof squeaked.

"Alright. I'll take it from here. I've been to this place before," Jade said.

Bidoof breathed a sigh of relief. "Aw, shucks. Thanks, Jade," Bidoof said.

"Okay. So to your left is the Marowak Dojo. There are supposedly dungeons in there to train in, but I've never been in there. Heck, I don't even know if it's open," Jade said.

The Marowak Dojo was a very tribal-looking place, made of painted rocks and fake bones.

"Up ahead is the Electivire Link Shop. You can 'link' moves there and use two moves on one turn. I would want to do that, but it doesn't look like Electivire is there," Jade explained.

The Electivire Link Shop was black and yellow with the head of an Electivire.

"Over there is the Chansey Day Care. Sometimes you can get Eggs as rewards for doing jobs. If you do, Chansey will take care of them. But she's not there… Why are the majority of the shops closed?" Jade griped.

The Chansey Day Care was a small pink dome that had bushes around it. In the bushes were white eggs.

Jade, Bidoof and I crossed the bridge as Jade continued her tour.

"Finally! A shop that's actually open!" Jade said, turning to our right. There was a shop that was run by two Pokémon that I recognized as Kecleon. The Kecleon on the left was green, but the Kecleon on the right was purple. They had the same features, so they were practically twins.

"That's the Kecleon Shop. They sell items. The green one sells stuff like Berries, Seeds and Scarves. The purple one sells Wonder Orbs and TMs," Jade explained.

"TMs?" I asked.

"It's short for 'technical machine'. TMs can teach you moves," Jade said.

"There's only one drawback: they're super expensive, yup, yup," Bidoof said.

"You've got that right, my friend," the purple Kecleon piped up. "Our merchandise is very expensive. But then again, how do you expect us to make a living?"

"Yeah, good point," I said.

"After we finish our tour, I'll give you time to stock up on items here," Bidoof said. He seemed to be regaining some of his self-confidence.

"Certainly. We sure do love a little business," the green Kecleon said.

"Anyway… Up ahead is the Kangaskhan Storage. If you have valuable items that you don't want to get lost, keep them in here. Even if you faint in a dungeon, you'll still keep all the items in storage. And luckily, Kangaskhan is here!" Jade said.

The Kangaskhan Storage was a very large building with a roof shaped like a Kangaskhan head. A Kangaskhan stood in it.

"Why, hello there, sweeties! New apprentices?" Kangaskhan said. Her accent was similar to Bidoof's, but softer.

"Yep! We're new to the guild!" Jade said.

"That's a pleasure to hear! I can tell that you'll need to use this storage a lot!" Kangaskhan said.

"Yes, we probably will need to," Jade said. "Alright. So we're done with our field trip."

"But what about that?" I asked, gesturing to a tent to our left. The tent had red eyes painted all over it, and it had the head of a green bird.

"That? That's Xatu Appraisal. I have no idea what it does, and anyway, it's closed," Jade said.

"So we're done here?" I asked.

"We certainly are, yup, yup," Bidoof said. "So I'm going to give you time to prepare here. Take your time, but don't shirk in your work. When you're ready, come on up to the guild. Then we'll go from there, by golly."

"Okay! Thanks, Bidoof!" I said.

The plump Pokémon then waddled back to the guild, muttering "By golly, I did it!" to himself.

"So, what do we do now?" Jade asked.

I opened our explorer bag and pulled out our money. "I'd say we give the Kecleons a visit."

After our shopping spree was over, we began to make our way to the guild. But we were interrupted by a small voice saying, "Misters Kecleon!"

A small blue mouse, an Azurill, ran up to the Kecleon shop. He was followed by a larger mouse, a Marill. They walked up to the green Kecleon with a fistful of money.

"Why, hello there, youngsters!" he said.

"Hi, Misters Kecleon!" Azurill said cheerfully.

The three Pokémon struck up a conversation. The purple Kecleon turned to us and smiled.

"Marill and Azurill are brothers. Their poor mother is sick, and so these brave Pokémon do all of the shopping. It's very nice of them," he explained.

Marill and Azurill finished their conversation and walked away with four ripe apples in their arms. They stopped in front of us.

"Are you two the new apprentices at the guild?" Marill asked.

"We sure are!" Jade said cheerfully.

"Cool! I wish that we could join the guild, but Mother Azumarill says that it's too dangerous… I hope that we'll meet again!" Azurill said cheerfully. Then the two skipped off together.

"They sure are cute," Jade said fondly.

The next thing we knew, Azurill and Marill were running back towards the Kecleon shop, frantically yelling, "Misters Kecleon!" again.

"What? What is it?" the green Kecleon asked.

"You gave us one more Apple than we paid for!" Marill said. Kecleon chuckled.

"Consider that a gift. Keep it," Kecleon said.

Azurill opened his mouth to say something, but Marill put his hand up to silence him. "Thank you. C'mon, Azurill," he said.

Marill ran ahead, leaving Azurill behind. "W-wait up!" he called. Azurill tried to catch up to Marill. But then…

"Oof!" Azurill tripped and fell on the ground, dropping one of his apples.

I ran over and helped Azurill up. Then I picked up his apple.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you, Mister Riolu!" Azurill said as I handed him his apple.

"You're welcome!" I said with a sunny smile.

And then it happened.

A wave of dizziness washed over me. _W-what? Why… why am I suddenly so dizzy? _I thought. But it was only the beginning.

Azurill's smiling face blurred, and darkness overtook me. _What is going—?_

But my thoughts were interrupted by a piercing scream.

"H-h-h-HELP!"

_That scream… It sounds so… familiar…_

Then everything blurred back into focus.

Azurill and Marill were gone. Jade was staring at me with an odd look on her face.

"Emile? Um… what's up? You just suddenly started to stare off into space…" Jade said.

"Jade. Did you just now hear a scream?" I asked urgently.

"Um… no… Kecleons! Did you hear someone scream?" Jade asked.

Both of them shook their heads.

Jade turned to me. "Nope. We didn't hear someone scream. Why?"

I briefly explained what happened to Jade, and she listened with rapt attention. Finally I finished.

"You said that the scream sounded familiar? Well, I think I know what that means! I think… I think you got one of your memories back!" Jade said.

I wanted to believe her. I really wanted to believe that I got one of my memories back. But I knew, somewhere, deep down in my heart, that wasn't the case.

"Maybe. But hey, let's get back to the guild and find a job," I said.

"Okay. Thanks, guys!" she said, looking to the Kecleons.

"You're oh so welcome!" the Kecleons said simultaneously.

We began to make our way back to the guild, but once we crossed the bridge we heard a cold, sneaky voice.

" –help you get it back," it said. We looked around and saw Marill and Azurill talking to a Drowzee by the Duskull Bank.

"Oh, thank you, Mister Drowzee!" Marill said.

"Why don't we just get going?" Drowzee said. Was it just me, or did Drowzee smile evilly at Azurill and Marill?

"Okay! Certainly— Oh! You two!" Azurill noticed us.

"Hm. And so who are you two?" Drowzee said.

"We're Team Aura!" Jade said.

"Team Aura, huh? You look… nice," Drowzee said, though I had the feeling that he wanted to say something not as kind as_ nice_.

"Hey, kiddos. Why are you talking to a Drowzee?" Jade asked.

"Well, a little while ago, we lost a very precious item. But Drowzee here said that he knew where it is! So he's gonna help us find it!" Azurill said.

"Yes. And now we'd better get going," Drowzee said impatiently.

Azurill and Marill began to skip away. Drowzee trudged to catch up to them, but Drowzee accidentally ran into me. "Oh! I'm sorry." Then he went to catch up to the brothers.

Jade began to say something, but suddenly I couldn't hear her. The dizzy feeling washed over me again.

_What? Again? _I thought. Everything went black again, but this time a… sort of vision popped up. And I couldn't accept what I saw.

Drowzee and Azurill were on top of a mountain. Azurill looked terrified. Drowzee looked triumphant.

"Don't give me any trouble now, or you will be sorry!" Drowzee threatened.

"H-h-h-HELP!" Azurill screamed.

_Whoa! That scream… that was Azurill's… THAT'S why it sounded familiar! _I thought. The dream began to fade.

Jade faded into my sight again, and before I was even fully aware of what I was doing, I said, "Follow Drowzee."

Jade looked at me with mild surprise. "Why?"

I quickly explained my latest vision. As I explained, Jade's eyes widened.

"So Drowzee was threatening Azurill on a mountain? I knew that Drowzee was suspicious!" Jade said.

"Well, why don't we go after him?" I said.

"Um, are you forgetting something?" she said.

"What?"

"We have to stick to the guild's training program."

"Forget about the program! We have to save Azurill!"

"Chatot said that Wigglytuff has a mean temper if we disobey his wishes."

"I don't care!"

"Just please. I don't want to get told off by a pink blob of happiness that wanted our team name to be Team Fluffy. Just… please."

We locked eyes for a moment. Then…

"Okay. I… I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's just my nature," I said.

"I understand," Jade said. Then we walked up to the guild.

Even though I agreed with Jade, I was still resisting the urge to drag her away and pursue Drowzee. But I couldn't. I didn't want to face the Guildmaster's wrath.

We walked into the guild and went down to the first sublevel, where Bidoof was waiting for us.

"Are y'all finished, yup, yup?" Bidoof asked.

"Yeah…" I muttered.

"Alright. Let's find you a job, yup, yup."

Bidoof began to search the board, looking for a job. Jade and I just sat and waited in anticipation for a minute.

Suddenly a piercing alarm rang out. The ground began to rumble. A voice said, "Warning! Stand back! Updating boards! Updating boards!"

"Wah! It's an earthquake!" Jade cried. But Bidoof stayed perfectly calm.

"It's not an earthquake, yup, yup. It's just Dugtrio updating the boards," he said.

"Updating the— what?" I yelled over the noise.

"Updating the job boards, by golly! Whenever we get new jobs to post on the job board, Dugtrio flips the boards around, takes down the old jobs, and tacks up new ones!" Bidoof said.

The rumbling abruptly stopped, and in front of us, the board flipped over. We jumped back in surprise.

"Whoa!" I said.

Then, almost instantly, the rumbling began again, and the board flipped over again. The rumbling stopped once again.

"Okay! Now we need to select your job for real, by golly!" Bidoof said.

He began to look at the job board again.

I began to look at it too. There were much more notes that were posted here than on the job board on the other side. So many criminals… It made me sad.

Then my eyes caught a note with a picture of a familiar-looking Pokémon.

"Jade, look," I said urgently. I grabbed the note off the board and handed it to Jade.

"What?! No way! That… That's Drowzee! He's an outlaw?" Jade said.

"Yeah, apparently," I said.

Jade looked at me. "And if what you told me is correct… Azurill's in danger! We've gotta go!"

"Go where?" I turned and saw Bidoof looking at us.

"Oh, um, we just have to go out somewhere. We'll be back before nightfall," I said.

"H-hey! Wait!" Bidoof called.

But we were already long gone.

Once reached the base of the tall mountain (it's called Mt. Bristle according to the Wonder Map) we took deep breaths.

"Azurill is depending on us," I said.

"Yeah. Let's go before Drowzee does something horrible to Azurill!" Jade said.

Then we plunged into the dungeon.

We shredded through the dungeon at top speed, mowing down enemies like bowling pins. I didn't stop for small things like Seeds. I just ran through. There was only one problem with living life in the fast lane: I got super hungry super-fast. We deposited a lot of our spare apples from yesterday in the Kangaskhan Storage today, so we only had two apples to last the entire dungeon. I began to wish the guild served breakfast.

Up and up we went, speeding through the dungeon and not even paying attention to minor stuff. Finally, after maybe nine floors, we reached the peak.

Drowzee was standing still, laughing manically, and in front of him I saw a little blue sphere that was whimpering in fear. Azurill.

I suddenly had a flash of déjà vu. _This is the same scene that I saw in my vision… Drowzee threatening Azurill… _I thought.

"Wah! Where's Marill?" Azurill cried.

"Marill's gone now. He won't be coming to save you anytime soon!" Drowzee said.

Azurill began to cry. "Wah… I wanna go home!"

"Don't give me any trouble now, or you will be sorry!" Drowzee threatened.

I cringed. If my visions earlier were correct…

"H-h-h-HELP!"

Azurill screamed. I'd heard the scream before, but now it seemed more frightening. It may have been because it was real and not just a dream. Reality made everything scarier.

"Stop!" Jade said boldly.

Drowzee turned to face us. Azurill wiped away his tears and stared, awestruck, at us.

"Oh no! Cute little Team Aura is here to stop me!" Drowzee said sarcastically.

"Release Azurill now and we'll go without a fight!" I said.

"Pah! You want to SAVE this trembling creature? You've got to be kidding! You want to rescue this good-for-nothing squirt who cries too much?" Drowzee laughed.

"If he's good for nothing, then why did you kidnap him?" I asked.

Drowzee growled. "Forget about that."

"This is your last chance, Drowzee. Release Azurill or we will fight you. I'm pretty sure Razor Leaf will beat you up pretty badly," Jade said.

"Give up? I'm a wanted criminal with a bounty on my head! I don't give up!" Drowzee said.

"Okay, then. I suppose we'll have to fight you. Be warned: _we _don't give up, either," I said.

"It's on!" And Drowzee charged at us.

At first the battle was easy. Jade and I beat up on him like there was no tomorrow. Drowzee was very strong and his attacks did a lot of damage. But I noticed that my Bite attack seemed to do more damage, too. Whenever I hit him with Bite, he'd cringe.

"Urk… You kids are tougher than I expected…" Drowzee said.

"Thank you," Jade said, firing another Razor Leaf at Drowzee.

"Yeah, you're good…" Drowzee said. I looked at him and saw that he was staring at me, his eyes glowing with a hypnotic pink hue. "But I'm better."

_Hypnosis… Dang! Why was I so stupid? _I thought. I tried to look away before I fell under the spell. But no… Even though I tried… I couldn't look away… I was slowly losing consciousness…

"Emile! Wake up! While you've been slacking on the job, I've had to keep Drowzee busy! So get off your lazy butt and help me!" Jade yelled, jarring me awake.

I said something like, "Uh…"

Jade sighed. "Alright, I'll do it myself…" Jade tacked Drowzee to the ground.

"Aargh! I've been defeated!" Drowzee said. He fell to the ground, and my fatigue vanished.

"Humph. That's what you get for kidnapping such a cute Azurill. Speaking of which…" Jade said. Then she looked over at Azurill, who was trembling fiercely, tears streaming down his face.

"T-Team Aura?" Azurill said weakly.

"Yeah! It's us," I said.

Azurill smiled. "Yay! Team Aura has come to rescue me!" he said. He ran over to us, pausing to smack the defeated Drowzee with his long tail.

"Azurill! Are you okay?" I said as the Polka Dot Pokémon bounded up toward us.

"Yep! I'm fine. I'm just really scared and really lonely. He separated me from my brother and…" Azurill trailed off. Then he began to sob.

"Waaaaah! I miss Marill! I'm scared!" Azurill wailed.

"Hey, it's okay. Let's go down to the base of the mountain. Marill may be there!" I said.

That lifted Azurill's spirits. "Yay! I'm coming, Marill!"

We climbed down the mountain, dragging Drowzee along with us. Azurill kept on making funny faces at him and saying snide comments to him.

Finally we got to the bottom of the mountain and found that Marill, two Magnemites and a Magnezone were waiting for us.

"MARILL!" Azurill cried, racing up to Marill and burying himself in Marill's arms.

"Azurill! I was so worried! Are you okay?" Marill said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He said some mean stuff to me, but he didn't hurt me at all," Azurill said.

"Azurill… I'm so glad you're safe…" Marill said as a tear traced its way down his cheek.

I couldn't help but get teary-eyed myself. Marill and Azurill were such loving brothers… It must've been so hard for Marill to be separated from Azurill… Then we rescued him… And it was all thanks to…

_My dreams, _I thought suddenly. We were so busy trying to rescue Azurill that I hadn't had time to think about my weird dreams that I had in Treasure Town.

_In both dreams I heard Azurill's scream… And in my second one, I saw Drowzee threatening Azurill… and just now, on Mt. Bristle… that actually happened… Do I have the ability to predict the future? _I thought. But I didn't have time to think about it anymore.

"ZZZT! I am Deputy Magnezone, the police officer around these parts! My officer Magnemites and I strive to apprehend lawbreakers like Drowzee here! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

"Oh, no, not the law enforcement," Drowzee groaned.

"ZZZT! We have received word that there has been an abduction by a certain Drowzee, and we immediately began investigating! Our investigation led us here, to Mt. Bristle! ZZZT!" Magnezone continued.

Drowzee groaned. Azurill smirked at him.

"ZZZT! Drowzee, do you have to say anything for yourself? ZZZT!" Magnezone asked. His two Magnemites surrounded him, staring at him expectantly, and finally Drowzee relented.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! It was me! I did it!" he blurted out.

"ZZZT! That's more like it! Now, c'mon! We need to arrange a proper punishment for you! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

The two Magnemites helped him to his feet, flanking him like the torches outside of Wigglytuff's Guild. Magnezone and his Magnemites led him away.

"ZZZT! Thank you! ZZZT!" one of the Magnemites said. Then they walked away, leaving us with Marill and Azurill.

"Can you get back okay?" Jade asked.

"Yep!" Azurill said.

"That's good," I said.  
"It sure is! Anyway, thanks again!" Marill said.

Then the two skipped away.

Jade and I teleported back to the guild with our badges (I still couldn't fathom how such a tiny badge could teleport us several miles from a dungeon to the guild) just in time for dinner. As we walked in to the pink tent, I felt a drop of rain hit my head. When we walked in and saw Chatot, I thought we were going to get scolded. But instead we were congratulated for our efforts in capturing Drowzee.

Dinner was full of excitement. Everyone was very excited about our capture of Drowzee.

"Even though y'all had to storm out on me, you did well, yup, yup," Bidoof said.

"Good job. You captured an outlaw. I can sleep safer now knowing that there's one less criminal to worry about. Meh-heh-heh," Croagunk said.

Dinner finished with a bang of thunder, as it was now storming. Rain pounded hard. Lightning streaked across the sky. Wind howled, and I seriously worried that the huge Wigglytuff tent outside would blow over.

Jade and I were dismissed to bed, but we just couldn't sleep because of the storm. I lay on my bed and tried to go to sleep. Jade looked out the window at the pounding rain.

"…It was storming the night before you appeared on the beach," Jade said suddenly.

I sat up with a start. "Really?"

"Yeah. It was worse than this, like the storm to end all storms."

We were silent for a while.

Finally I broke the silence.

"…Do you know the reason that I agreed to join the guild?" I said.

"You didn't want to make me feel bad," Jade guessed. She looked down solemnly.

"No. I thought that by joining the guild I would learn more about who I was before… before I became a Pokémon," I said.

"…So we both joined the guild in hope of unraveling a mystery."

"Pretty much."

There was another pause.

"Jade? Do you have any ideas about how I became a Pokémon?" I said after a while.

"No, not really. Well, I do have a really dumb theory. But it's just a guess," Jade said.

"Tell me."

"…Well, you know how time is getting messed up? I think your transformation has to do with time," Jade said.

"I think so, too. But how can time get messed up?" I said.

Jade thought about it for a little while. "Do you know about Time Gears?" she asked.

_Time Gears… Hm… _I thought.

"Time Gears? Can't say that I've heard of them. What are they?" I said.

"Well, they are mysterious artifacts that are hidden around this world. There's one in a forest, one in an underground lake… there's even rumored to be one hidden in a secret volcano!" Jade explained.

"And what do they do?" I asked.

"They supposedly control the flow of time in that area."

I hesitated, thinking about how to phrase this next question. "What happens if a Time Gear is stolen?" I asked.

My stomach lurched and I bit my lip, suddenly dreading the answer.

"…Well, no one knows for sure, since even the most hardened criminals know not to mess with them. But I think… if a Time Gear is stolen… then time in that area… will completely stop flowing."

It was hard to fall asleep after such a scary tale, but eventually the sound of the storm zonked me out.

XxX

**So what do you think? Should it stay as it is or should I split it up into two chapters? Let me know in the review section!**


	7. Chapter 6: The Gatekeepers

**Whoops! I COMPLETELY forgot about this chapter! I'm still getting used to FanFiction... Anyway, enjoy.**

Chapter 6: The Gatekeepers

The next day, I saw something as we were heading out to our job at Drenched Bluff. Just outside Treasure Town, a huge boulder sat on the ground. A Spinda examined the rock as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.

Spinda mumbled to himself as if he hadn't noticed us. "A place where all your hopes and dreams will come true…"

Jade glanced at me. "Um… what?"

We did our job easily, and we got 1,500 Poké for our trouble! …Except Chatot had to step in and take away ninety percent of our earnings, leaving us with only 150 Poké.

"AND… THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!" we cheered the next day. We were about to go up and do a job, but then, we heard a cry of: "HEY! NEWBIES! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE!" It was Loudred. Loudred was standing by a hole in the ground that had a vine growing out of it. Diglett sat next to him.

"FINALLY! You NEWBIES took a LONG TIME!" Loudred roared.

"Now, really! That's no way to treat our new apprentices!" Chatot said.

Loudred looked down.

"Loudred! Look up and tell Team Aura about what they're supposed to do today," Chatot prompted.

"RIGHT! So, you two are supposed to do SENTRY DUTY!" Loudred said.

"Okay… Elaborate, please," Jade said.

"OKAY! So when you two tried to enter the GUILD, what HAPPENED?" Loudred said.

"Well, um… Oh right! The whole 'Pokémon detected' thing with Diglett! That's what!" Jade said.

"So today I want you to do that! DIGLETT here is shirking work—" Loudred began. But he was interrupted by Diglett.

"I am not! It's just… Daddy Dugtrio can't do the job of updating the boards, so I have to for today!" Diglett said in his tiny voice.

"Excuses, excuses!" Loudred roared.

"I'm sorry! I really am! Oh! Anyway, I must get going," Diglett said. Before Loudred could say anything, Diglett burrowed down into the ground.

"So. You poor kids. You're stuck with me!" Loudred said.

We were silent.

"Well, what are you WAITING FOR?! GET IN THE HOLE!"

"Okay! Alright!" I said. Jade and I approached the hole and grabbed onto the vine that led down.

As we climbed further and further down, it got darker and darker until we were in complete darkness.

"Wah! It's so dark!" Jade said.

_ Now look who's Captain Obvious, _I thought.

"We'll have to feel our way around…" Jade said.

I stepped forward. We appeared to be in an underground tunnel, like a rabbit's burrow. It was completely dark. I couldn't even see my hand (or was it my paw?) in front of my face.

Something brushed up against my side. I screamed and jumped back, accidentally bumping into a wall.

"It's just me, Emile! Don't freak out!" Jade said.

"Sorry…" I said.

Jade grabbed my hand. Under normal circumstances I would've been embarrassed to have a girl hold my hand, but now I was grateful. I didn't want to feel alone.

"I think I see a light up ahead!" Jade said.

Sure enough, I could just barely see a faint light up ahead. "I think we've found our destination," I said.

We walked toward the light, feeling around on the walls. Eventually we got to the light and saw that above us, a metal grate sat embedded in the ground, letting in the sunlight.

"This is the same grate that we stepped on when we tried to enter the guild!" Jade exclaimed.

"So that means…" I said.

"We get to yell out 'Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!' and scare the living daylights out of Pokémon! Woo!" Jade said.

"Are you two DOWN THERE YET?" Loudred called. His voice was echoey and distant.

"Yeah!" I called back.

"OKAY! You two get to stay down there for the day and tell us the NAME of the VISITING POKÉMON!" Loudred said.

"All day?!" I asked.

But before Loudred got the chance to say anything back, a shadow passed over the grate above us. A Pokémon had arrived.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" I said automatically.

"Whose footprint? Who's footprint?" Loudred called.

"The footprint is…" I trailed off.

I frantically tapped Jade. "Whose footprint?" I hissed.

Jade ran under the grate. After half a second's consideration, Jade whispered back to me, "Trapinch."

"The footprint is Trapinch's! The footprint is Trapinch's!" I said.

"Heard ya! Come on in, visitor!" Loudred said.

The shadow vanished. A little while later we heard Loudred say, "Looks like you're right!"

"Awesome!" Jade said, high-fiving me.

"Now you wait for another Pokémon to come!" Loudred said.

That was much easier said than done. We had to sit in the darkness and wait for a shadow to pass over the grate. We didn't have any breaks, and we had to eat our own food from our explorer bag.

But other than that it was actually smooth sailing. I would get Jade to tell me the Pokémon that the footprint belonged to, and I would relay it to Loudred. He seemed very pleased.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?"

"The footprint is Skitty's! The footprint is Skitty's!"

"Good job, Emile!"

Soon the sky above us got darker and bright stars came up.

"Are we done yet?" Jade moaned.

"Okay! No more visitors!" Chatot called.

"Yay!" Jade said.

We began to walk back, feeling around the dark tunnel. Eventually I felt the vine in front of me. I signaled Jade, and we began to climb.

Chatot was waiting for us on the second sublevel. Loudred was standing next to him, looking pleased.

"Okay! Let's review your sentry duty performance," Chatot said. Chatot turned to Loudred, and the two began to mumble to each other.

"And the results are… Well, well! Perfect!" Chatot said.

"Woo hoo!" Jade said, giving me a high five.

"VERY GOOD!" Loudred boomed.

"Such a great performance deserves an especially generous selection of rewards!" Chatot said.

"Rewards?" I asked.

"Yes… Hm, let's see… You should get… 500 Poké, a Joy Seed, a Ginseng, and a Life Seed!" Chatot said, giving us some Seeds, a drink (that heavily resembled a Max Elixir that I found in Drenched Bluff) and a handful of shiny coins.

"Yes! Yay!" Jade said.

"GOOD job!" Loudred said.

"Sweet," I said.

"Alright. Now it's time for you to eat some dinner. Good job once again," Chatot said.

Jade beamed at me. "Dinner time!"

And we went to the mess hall, our spirits high.


	8. Chapter 7: Waterfall Cave

Chapter 7: Waterfall Cave

The next few days we fell into a routine. We'd be jarred out of bed in the morning, participate in our daily cheer, go upstairs and find a job, prepare in Treasure Town and go to do the job. Once the job was finished, we'd return to the guild, get our reward, eat dinner, and go to bed. It took some getting used to, but after a while, it felt almost natural.

Two days after our Mt. Bristle rescue, we saw a Wynaut and a Wobbuffet examining the rock that Spinda was looking at the previous day.

"This place is a very boring place, am I right? I think it should be… remodeled. We should add something here," Wynaut said.

"That's right!" Wobbuffet agreed.

What are they planning to do here? It seems… suspicious… I thought.

But other than that, everything was normal. Well, as normal as it can get when you're stuck in a world of talking Pokémon.

Until one day…

"UP AND AT EM' IT'S MORNING!" Loudred boomed again.

"Oog… Good morning, Emile…" Jade said.

We walked into the main room, ready for our cheer. But it never came.

Chatot stood in front of us, looking devastated. "Ahem… I have an announcement to make," he said.

"What? What is it?" Jade asked.

"You all know about Time Gears, am I right?" Chatot said.

We all nodded.

"Well, due to time being messed up, many bad Pokémon are appearing." He paused. "And recently, we have discovered that there has been some suspicious activity going on at Treeshroud Forest."

"Oh! That's where a Time Gear is, right?" Jade said.

"Precisely," Chatot agreed.

There was another pause that was interrupted by a shrill scream. "Oh my gosh! There's no way… It happened?!" Sunflora squealed.

"Yes. I'm afraid that it has happened. Treeshroud Forest's Time Gear… has been stolen," Chatot said grimly.

The news spread across the guild like a gruesome virus. Then, out of nowhere…

"WHAT?!" everyone screamed.

"Because Treeshroud Forest's Time Gear was stolen," Chatot continued, "time in Treeshroud Forest… has come to a complete standstill."

A tense silence followed the story. It was so spooky that it seemed as if time had stopped in the guild as well.

"However, I must tell you not to worry. We are safe here at the guild. No harm will befall you here. I do, however, strongly discourage exploration around the forest," Chatot assured us.

There was some scattered whispering.

"So! Here's to another good day of exploring!" Chatot said.

"Hooray…!" we cheered, though it sounded less enthusiastic than usual. Then everyone dispersed to their posts.

"Emile! Jade!" Chatot said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You two have proved to be a very skilled exploration team. So today I must ask you a favor," he said.

"Sure thing!" Jade said.

"Okay. Now, may I see your Wonder Map?" Chatot said.

"Sure," I said, taking out the old map from our bag. Chatot pointed out something on the map, and I realized that he was pointing to a waterfall.

"Not too far from here is a very large waterfall. We have received intelligence that the waterfall conceals a secret," Chatot said.

"Oh! So you want us to investigate the waterfall?" Jade said, jumping to her own conclusion.

"Yes."

"Okay!" Jade said, not waiting for me to voice my opinion.

"I knew you'd say that! So get going! Remember, don't shirk work!" Chatot said.

But Jade stood still, absolutely petrified. I then realized that she was trembling slightly.

"Jade?" I asked.

Jade sniffed. I then found that she was actually crying slightly. Tiny tears lined her auburn eyes, making her eyes look shiny.

"I-I'm so… excited, yet scared…" she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I mean… We just started training here… and we're already going on our first official exploration…" she said.

"I understand. It is kind of scary. But we can't slack off. Remember our cheer! ONE!" I said.

"DON'T SHIRK WORK!" Jade said, continuing the chant.

"Yes. So now you two should hurry up," Chatot interrupted.

"Right," I said.

And so we made our way up the ladder and were about to go to Treasure Town when we were interrupted by Chimecho.

"Emile! Jade!" she said.

We walked over to Chimecho, who was standing behind a stone desk of sorts.

"What now, Twi-hard?" Jade sighed.

Chimecho growled. "Call me that again, and I will rip off your head."

Jade squeaked.

"Anyway!" Chimecho said, regaining her smile. "Have you ever thought, 'Gee, it sure would be nice to add more members to our team?'" she asked.

"Um, yeah. Now that I think about it…" Jade said.

"Well, now you can!" Chimecho said.

"How?" I asked.

"Well, now I have created the Chimecho Assembly: your one stop place for assembling your team!" she said.

There was a pause.

"Um, okay… Please elaborate," Jade said.

"Sometimes in a dungeon, Pokémon will be impressed with your skill and ask to join your team. They'll be just like your partner," –Chimecho gestured to Jade–"however, if they faint, you won't have to drop out of the dungeon," Chimecho explained.

"Cool! So we could just have, like, a parade of recruited Pokémon–" I began.

"No. See, you can have up to two recruits with you in a dungeon. Including you and Jade, that brings the total number of members up to four," Chimecho interrupted.

"Cool, but what if you want to recruit more Pokémon and your team is already full?" Jade asked. Chimecho smiled.

"That's where I come in. You'll have to send one of your partners back to the guild to make room for your new recruit. Then I'll put them on the waiting list. If you want to adjust your team members, just give me a buzz! Well, actually, give me a ring," Chatot explained as she spun around. A small ringing noise emitted from her.

"Ring ding dong, ring ding dong…" Jade sung to herself.

"Um…" I said.

Jade went red and vaguely muttered, "In-joke."

"Anyway, I hope your explorations go well!" Chimecho said.

"Thanks!" I said.

And with that, we went to Treasure Town to prepare. Apparently, the Kecleon brothers had stocked a new item: a Reviver Seed.

"They're miraculous items that will save you if you faint in a dungeon! You'll just be able to get right back up and continue the fight if you faint! Cool, isn't it?" Kecleon said.

"Yeah!" Jade said.

"They turn into Plain Seeds after they're used, and Plain Seeds do nothing. Plain Seeds can be eaten, but I wouldn't recommend it, as they taste like cardboard," Kecleon explained.

We bought the Reviver Seed and bid the brothers our thanks. Then we set off for the waterfall.

We heard the waterfall long before we saw it. But when we did find it, however, I could only stop and stare.

A humongous cliff stood in front of us. Water crashed down, creating a ton of foam in a small lake below.

"Well, we're here at the waterfall… So, how do we investigate it?" Jade said.

Jade inched closer. "Man! The water's pouring down hard!" she said.

Then Jade made the mistake of getting too close. She accidentally ran into the waterfall, and with a mighty CRASH she instantly retreated.

"OW! That seriously hurt! If we try to jump through that, we'll get crushed!" Jade exclaimed.

"And that's why I didn't volunteer to go first," I said to myself with a smile.

"Running through it wouldn't be a smart idea… Emile! Why don't you try?" Jade said.

"I take it back…" I muttered.

I apprehensively approached the waterfall until I was an arm's length away. Even from this distance the rush of the waterfall almost knocked me down.

_ Alright… Here goes nothing!_ I thought.

And summoning all my courage, I walked into the roaring water.

CRASH! The water slammed into me like a herd of wild Pokémon. I stumbled back in surprise.

"Waaah!" I yelped. I felt as if I had run full speed into a wall.

"I told you it was super powerful!" Jade said.

"Yeah-ow-you're right…" I groaned.

But we didn't have time to talk more. The dizzy feeling descended down on me again for the first time in days, and I don't think that it had anything to do with my waterfall crash course.

A vision opened up in front of me. A shadowy figure stood outside the waterfall, surveying the area. The figure walked back away from the waterfall, then it suddenly ran up to the waterfall. I thought for sure it would get smooshed in the falls, but instead it ran right through the waterfall and with a huge SPLOOSH it tumbled through into a hidden cave behind the waterfall…

_ A hidden cave behind a waterfall?_ I thought.

My dream vanished, leaving me to stare at the pounding falls.

"Um… Emile?" Jade asked.

"Jade, I need to tell you something," I said.

I explained my most recent dream to Jade. Jade listened intently the entire time.

"Wow. That's… a little far-fetched, to tell you the truth… It's not that I don't believe you, it's just… If you're wrong…" Jade said.

She stared at the pounding fall. "Besides, even if there is a cave back there, if we don't run in there fast enough, we'll get squished for sure…"

"Last time I had a dream it turned out to be real," I said, thinking back to my first two dreams.

There was a brief silence. Jade studied my face carefully.

"…Okay. I believe you."

I beamed at Jade. Even if she was stubborn sometimes, she'd always come through in the end.

We positioned ourselves a few feet away from the rush of the waterfall. Jade began to tremble.

"Oof… I'm getting a little nervous…" Jade said.

I patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Look, it's gonna be okay. I'll be with you. It's fine," I said.

Jade looked at me hopefully. "Yeah, you're right."

She turned back to the waterfall. "Okay. We're going to have to run through that waterfall as fast as we can or…"

"Don't think about it," I said.

We took a deep breath.

"On three?" Jade asked.

"On three," I agreed. I braced myself.

"One… Two… Three… GO!" Jade counted. Then we charged into the roaring waterfall.

"Waaaaah!" I cried as we jumped through.

It felt just like running into a wall: it hurt. Badly. I thought we would just be bounced back off the wall of water, but we somehow jumped through it.

As soon as we broke through, I felt as though I was being shoved through a trash compactor. Pressure threatened to crush me on all sides. My head hurt like crazy, and it certainly didn't stop hurting when I tumbled onto a stone floor.

I groaned and sat up.

"Ugh… What a rough landing…" I muttered.

"I agree," Jade said. "But it looks like you were right about there being a cave behind the waterfall…"

I looked around, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. I found that we were indeed in a dark, damp cave. The ground was chunky gravel that hurt my feet. The walls were made of rock. Two small ponds of water were next to us.

"…Weird…" I said.

"You said it. So I guess we should explore…" Jade said.

"Right," I said.

And with that, we walked forward into another dungeon.

The dungeon was mildly difficult. The Pokémon were hostile and gave us a good beating. Luckily, we had several Oran Berries with us. We didn't give up easily.

On the third floor we encountered a Lotad: a lily pad looking thing. It was very reluctant to battle us, but it eventually gave us a couple of tackles. We defeated it easily, but instead of disappearing, it stayed visible.

"A-Are you Team Aura?" it asked in awe.

"Yes, but what's that mean to you?" I asked.

"Oh! Team Aura! I've heard all about you! You were the ones that got rid of that despicable Drowzee! Oh, Team Aura… I have a question for you… Refuse me if you wish, but… Oh please! Can I join your team?" the Lotad gushed.

I looked at Jade. "What do you think?"

"Well, he sure knows this place better than we do." Jade tossed him a badge from our Explorer Bag. "You're hired."

The Lotad looked about ready to faint from amazement. "Really?! The legendary Team Aura wants me?! Oh my… This'll be quite a tale to tell my friends around here!" the Lotad said.

"Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Of course… My name's Kappa," Kappa said.

"Nice to meet you, Kappa," I said.

As we went through the dungeon, two new Pokémon wanted to join our team: Barbara the Barboach and Kleptoad the Poliwag. Once we recruited Kleptoad, we had to send Barbara back to the guild. She was kind of getting on our nerves, as every few steps she'd tell us boring information about the cave.

"Did you know that only three explorers have ever found this cave? The first was the strong Team—" Barbara said.

"Just… shut up!" Jade snapped. She seemed unable to control her anger with the Barboach.

So we sent her back. Kleptoad and Kappa were relieved.

"Finally…" Kappa sighed.

On the seventh floor we found the stairs and walked down them. Once we reached the eighth floor, I tripped and stumbled on something. Once I regained my footing, I realized that I had tripped on were the stairs to the next floor.

"How…convenient," Jade commented.

Kappa peered down the staircase. "Whoa. I think I see something!" he said.

"Lemme see!" Kleptoad said, pushing past Kappa. He too looked down the staircase, and when he looked up, he looked awestruck. "It looks like there's something glowing down there!"

Jade and I looked, and sure enough, I could faintly see a medley of soft colors. Pretty pinks and great greens softly shone.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's see what that is!" Jade said excitedly.

So I walked down the stairs, eager to see what was down there.

I was in no way prepared for what I saw.

We were in a room not unlike the one at the beginning of this dungeon. The floor was wet and rocky. The walls were also made of rocks. But there weren't just rocks in the room.

Multicolored gems were embedded in the ground or in the walls. They sparkled and gleamed despite the dark environment. And a few paces in front of us, a huge pink crystal twice the size of me was slightly embedded in the ground.

We silently took in the beautiful environment. All of the gems seemed to completely silence us. Finally Jade broke the silence.

"Holy Arceus… This… This is… beautiful…" she said in awe.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

Jade's eyes fell on the giant pink crystal. "Whoa! Look at the size of this thing!"

"It's huge!" Kappa said.

Jade approached the crystal. "It's probably gonna be worth a ton of money! It'll be much more valuable than all the money we get for jobs combined! Let's take it back to the guild!" She began to pull on it.

I just stared at the crystals, hypnotized by the beauty. Jade tried with all her might to tug down the pink crystal, but eventually she gave up.

"Huff… puff… I can't pull it off…" Jade panted. Her face was beaded with sweat.

"Let me try!" I said. I walked toward the crystal, lay my hands on it, and tugged with all my might. But as much as I tried, I couldn't get the gem to do as much as budge. Eventually I was forced to quit.

"How'd it go?" Kleptoad asked.

"Bad. I couldn't even get it to budge," I said.

"I'm gonna try it again!" Jade said, running to the gem again. Jade began to say something, but… Another dizzy spell descended on me.

_ What? Why now?_ I thought. But before I could think more, a vision appeared again.

I saw the shadowy figure from my previous dream standing where we were. The pink crystal was in front of it. It approached the huge gem and began to tug on it. But then things went wrong.

The figure accidentally pushed the crystal forward. Click. The tiniest click emitted from the gem and echoed off the walls. The figure looked around quickly in alarm. At first nothing happened, but then the ground began to rumble. The figure looked to its left, and then it began to run. A second later I saw why: a huge wave of water emerged out of nowhere. The figure tried to outrun the tsunami, but it didn't get too far before the wave swept it off the ground. My dream vanished.

I stared at Jade for a second, who was still trying to pull the crystal.

_ Trying to pull the crystal… Wait! It's a trap!_ I thought suddenly, thinking about my dream where the wave was summoned.

"Jade! Stop now! It's a trap!" I exclaimed.

"What? What do you—" Jade began.

_ Click._

Jade accidentally pushed the crystal forward, and a small click resonated from it, bouncing off the walls. The ground began to rumble.

"Were you saying something?" I asked innocently.

"Okay! Sorry! It apparently IS a trap!" Jade said frantically.

WHOOSH! A sound similar to the waterfall up front began to roar. It gradually became louder.

That can't be good, I thought.

A huge wave rounded a corner. Kappa and Kleptoad gasped.

"Run now and talk later," I suggested.

"Deal."

We didn't waste any more time talking; the wave was almost upon us. We ran ahead blindly.

Our genius escape plan worked well… for about five seconds. Then the huge wave crashed on top of us and swept us away.

For just a second, all I could see was bubbles. Then I was on top of the wave, being carried like a surfer. I struggled to stay afloat, gasping for breath and flailing about.

A green blob, Jade, was swept by me, screaming something that sounded like, "NO!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kleptoad trying to help Kappa.

I looked forward… and saw that there was a rocky wall ahead of us. We were being carried so fast to the wall that we would surely be smashed on it.

"We're gonna hit that wall!" I spluttered.

But we didn't hit the wall. At the last second, the water suddenly forced us up, and we shot into the air so quickly, I almost instantly lost consciousness.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Jade yelled.

Then everything went black.

I awoke staring up to the cloudless blue sky. Pleasantly warm water bubbled around me. I could hear some isolated chatter here and there.

I groaned, sat up, and looked around. We appeared to be in a sort of hot spring. Jade was already awake. Around us, many nice looking Pokémon conversed with Kappa and Kleptoad. An old Torkoal watched over us. As far as I could tell, we were all fine.

"Ah! You're awake," the Torkoal said with a sunny smile.

"Um, yeah, we are," I said matter-of-factly.

"Alright, mister. Tell him what you told us," Jade said.

"Hm? Tell him— oh. Yeah. Sorry, I'm quite forgetful in my old age…" he said.

"What happened? How did we get here?" I prompted.

"Oh? I don't know. We here at the Hot Spring were just minding our own business when you four just fell out of the sky! I couldn't believe my eyes! I thought I must be hallucinating…" Torkoal trailed off.

"Hot Spring? Where—" I asked.

"The map, Emile," Jade said.

"Oh, right." I unbuttoned our pack (which was miraculously dry) and got out our Wonder Map. I saw a small yellow dot, far away from the waterfall. I knew that dot was us.

"Whoa! So once that huge geyser spat us out of the waterfall here," I said, pointing to the waterfall on the map, "we were carried all the way over here…" I pointed to the yellow dot.

"Waterfall Cave? Eh, that's such a devious place. I hear there's a trapped crystal in there," Torkoal said.

"Yeah, there is. So anyway, we must get going," Jade said.

"So soon? Why don't you rest here? The water here will relax your muscles and soothe your soul," Torkoal said.

"It wouldn't hurt to stay just a little, will it?" I asked.

"I am a little tired…" Jade agreed.

"Yeah! And these Pokémon are really nice!" Kappa added.

So we ended up relaxing in the Hot Spring for a little while longer. Torkoal was right; the water did seem to soothe my muscles. Soon I was feeling completely refreshed.

After a little while, the sun began to sink down, and we knew it was time to return to the guild.

"You're always welcome here if you want to relax!" Torkoal said.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" I said.

"You're certainly welcome! Good luck exploring!" Torkoal said.

Then we all touched our explorer badges, and in an instant, we were in front of the guild.

Kappa and Kleptoad bid us farewell. They said that they would sleep in a teepee in Treasure Town.

"It's been a pleasure exploring with you!" Kappa said gleefully. The two walked off into Treasure Town.

We ran up to the guild, eager to report our findings to Wigglytuff and Chatot. We ran down the ladders and almost knocked over Chatot.

"Do watch where you're going, you two!" Chatot said huskily, brushing himself off.

"Chatot! You won't believe what we found!" Jade said.

Jade proceeded to tell him the story: how we ran through the waterfall, found out that there was a dungeon in there, discovered the room with the trapped crystal, and how the water washed us to the Hot Spring.

Jade did most of the talking. I was too busy thinking about my two dizzy spells.

That shadow I saw… It looked familiar… I swear that I've seen that shadow before…

But who IS it?

"You're saying that there's a DUNGEON behind that waterfall? And at the bottom of that dungeon there's a crystal that summons a wave when tampered with? And somehow you washed up in a hot spring?" Chatot summarized.

"Pretty much," Jade said.

Chatot frantically flapped his wings. "Squawk! This is incredible! An outstanding discovery! I must alert the Guildmaster immediately!"

The Guildmaster… Wait! That shadow… I think I know who that shadow belonged to! That shadow is…

"Wigglytuff."

Chatot and Jade looked at me funny. "What do you mean?"

"Um… well see… I had these weird dreams, and there was a shadow in the dreams, and it also explored Waterfall Cave… and I think that was the shadow of Wigglytuff," I explained.

Chatot tilted his head. "Wigglytuff, eh? He's never told me anything of that sort…"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask about it," I said.

"…Okay. Be back in a minute." Chatot opened the door to Wigglytuff's room and stepped inside.

"Emile! Why do you have to be such a spoilsport?" Jade hissed.

"Sorry! I'm just telling the truth! It's always good to be truthful," I said.

"Fine. Grr…" Jade grumbled.

We waited for a minute, and then Chatot came back out, looking very uncomfortable.

"So?" I asked.

"…Well, I asked him… He was quiet for a minute, but then he said, 'Ah, fun times, they were! Fun times!' Then he started dancing and singing… and then he said, 'Yes, I think I may have been there before…'"

We were silent for a moment.

"So… we didn't discover anything new?" Jade asked.

"It doesn't seem like it."

Jade sniffed, and I was surprised to see tiny tears in her eyes.

"Jade…" I said.

"Don't feel too down about it! You're bound to discover a ton of treasure during your career as an exploration team!" Chatot said.

"…Yeah…" Jade said offhandedly.

"Anyway, dinner's almost ready. Why don't you just hang out?" Chatot suggested.

"Sure," I said.

So Chatot left us to our own accords until dinner. Word of Waterfall Cave had spread, and many Pokémon congratulated us on our first official exploration. Soon dinner was over, and we began to make our way to bed. But then…

"Emile? Jade? The Guildmaster would like to speak to you," Chatot said.

Jade glanced at me fearfully. "Did we get in trouble or something?" she asked.

"It's nothing bad, don't worry," Chatot assured. He led us to the Guildmaster's chamber and opened the door.

The wonderful smell and warmth from the Guildmaster's chamber washed over me again. When we stepped into the room, Wigglytuff noticed us. His face broke into a grin.

"Friendly friends!" he said cheerfully. "Congratulations on your first exploration!"

"Thank you," I said.

"So, my friends, guess what? We're gonna go on a super big expedition soon!" he said.

"A what?" Jade asked.

"An expedition. We'll explore somewhere far, far away. It's more difficult than exploring the nearby area, and because of that, we must prepare," Chatot explained.

"Prepare? Like, get a ton of Reviver Seeds? If everyone goes then we'll definitely need some Reviver Seeds…" Jade said.

"Well, first off, not everyone's going on this expedition. Only the bravest, most talented apprentices will go on this expedition. Second, if you are chosen, you must be responsible enough to get your own supplies."

"So why are you telling us this?" I asked.

"You know what I said earlier, right? Only a select few can go. Normally rookies like you wouldn't have the slimmest chance to go on such an expedition, but you two have been working very hard. So we're going to put you two on the list of candidates to go! Isn't that wonderful?" Chatot said.

"Ooh, really? We get to go on an expedition? That sounds fun!" Jade said.

"Now, keep in mind that we haven't decided who will go yet. If you shirk in your work, then you probably won't get chosen," Chatot put in.

"Okay! We'll work extra hard!" Jade said cheerfully.

"Alright. Now, go to bed, you two. You have a big day tomorrow," Chatot said. He opened the door, and we returned to our rooms.

I laid down on my bed and tried to go to sleep. We're gonna have to work hard if we want to be chosen for the expedition, I chided myself. But for some weird reason, I couldn't.

"Hey, Emile," Jade said after a brief silence.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I've just realized something about your dizzy spells."

I sat up. "What? What is it?"

"Well, I've noticed that whenever you have a dizzy spell, you've been touching something," Jade said.

I thought back to my previous dizzy spells. _Right… The first time I had my dizzy spell, I was touching Azurill's apple that he dropped… The second time, Drowzee bumped into me… The third time, I ran into the waterfall… and the fourth time… yeah, the crystal at the end of the dungeon… I thought._

"You're right," I said.

Jade looked rather impressed with herself.

"But wait." I picked up a handful of straw from my bed and held it up. "I'm not having a spell now. Maybe my dreams only activate when I touch apples, Drowzees, waterfalls, or crystals."

"…You know what? Why don't we just sleep on it? We have a lot to do tomorrow," Jade suggested.

"Yeah, you're right," I said.

"Okay. Sleep tight." And Jade rolled over on her bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

_Time to go to sleep…_ I thought to myself. _We've got a big day tomorrow._


	9. Chapter 8: Team Skull

**Whoa-ho-ho!**  
**Heh-heh-heh!  
Chaw-haw-haw!**

**Oh boy. My least favorite chapter...**

Chapter 8: Team Skull

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared for what seemed like the zillionth time.

"Oog… Good morning, Emile…" Jade mumbled.

We dragged ourselves out of bed and walked into the main room, where everyone was assembled.

"Ahem!" Chatot cleared his throat. "Now, as some of us already know," Chatot glanced at us, "we are currently planning an expedition."

Everyone began to babble. "Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed.

"An expedition, yup, yup? Gawrsh, I hope I get to go," Bidoof said.

"Hey hey! An expedition?" Corphish said.

"Now now!" Chatot said, breaking the noise. "As you all are aware, we are monitoring your activities. We will see if you are slacking off. However, you will also be noticed if you do good deeds. If you are good, you'll have a higher chance of going. If you slouch on the job, you'll have a lower chance of going." His words were absorbed by everyone.

"Don't worry! We won't be lazy!" Jade said.

"That's the spirit! Now, here's to another good day of work!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" everyone chorused.

Jade looked at me. "Emile! I have a GREAT idea that will be sure to get us on the expedition! We'll get a ton of jobs and do them all at once! Isn't that such a great idea?"

"Yeah, if we could do them all," I said.

Jade ignored me.

We walked up the ladder as usual and were about to get a job when I noticed two Pokémon in front of the job board. One of them was a purple spherical thing and the other was a bat.

_ Hey, they look familiar… Oh! No way! They're not…_I thought suddenly._ Yes they are! They're…Koffing and Zubat!_

Jade gasped. "It's Koffing and Zubat!" Jade whispered.

"I know," I said.

"What are THEY doing in here?" she asked.

"Don't ask me. I don't know…"

"Well, let's welcome them into the guild." Jade smiled an evil smile.

Jade approached the duo. "Hey! You two!" she called.

Koffing and Zubat turned around. "You two look familiar! Have I seen you before?" Koffing asked.

"You two look familiar too. Oh, I know why. You two are the ones who tried to ROB me on the beach!" Jade spat.

"Rob you? Pah! No! We're just an exploration team! We would never rob someone!" Zubat said.

"Yeah right! I'm not as stupid as you think. I can see right through you!"

"…Dang it! She knows!" Koffing said in a loud whisper.

"Whatever! What are you two doing here?" Jade asked, her anger barely contained.

"The question is: what are YOU doing here, chicken?" Koffing said.

Jade began to tremble. Instantly I knew that the criminals had gone too far. "DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME CHICKEN, YOU STUPID POKÉMON!"

"You still didn't answer her question: why are you here?" I said bravely.

"Well see, we heard that this stinkpot of a guild was going on an expedition!" Zubat said.

"YOU TWO ARE GONNA BE ON THE EXPEDITION?!" Jade roared.

"Oh, it ain't just gonna be the two of us! The chief is coming, too!" Koffing said.

"Your…chief?" I asked, momentarily stunned.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Yeah! That's right! Hey, chief!" Koffing called.

"Who's your ch—" And then the smell hit me.

Have you ever accidentally been sprayed by a skunk? If so, you know how bad it smells. Now imagine that smell a thousand times worse. Yeah. THAT'S how bad it smells. It smelled so bad that I almost instantly collapsed on the ground, coughing and wheezing.

All of our fellow apprentices were affected by the stink.

"Hey hey! What's that smell?" Corphish said.

"Eww! It reeks like rotten cheese!" Sunflora groaned.

"Urk! That's one horrible stench, yup, yup!" Bidoof said.

I looked up and saw a large purple skunk: a Skuntank. The Skuntank approached Jade.

I would've said, "Get away!" if I wasn't so busy coughing.

"So, did you two call me?" the Skuntank asked.

"Yes! See, this runt needs a pep talk!" Koffing said, looking to the furious Jade.

Skuntank turned to Jade. "Hm. So you're Jade, I presume. My lackeys have told me all about you."

Jade squeaked.

"Now, don't take this the wrong way, but I simply don't think that you're fit to be an explorer," the skunk said.

"WHAT?!" Jade spat in outrage. "Not fit to be an explorer?! Why?!"

"Well for one, you have extreme emotions; you get angry easily, you get sad easily."

"AND FOR A GOOD REASON! YOU'RE TAUNTING ME!"

"Second, you're not too brave. You're gonna need guts if you want to survive the trials of the road."

Jade was quiet, tears silently streaming down her face. I tried to get up, but Skuntank glared at me. "Stay out of this, runt." Then the smell hit my nostrils again. I continued to cough and writhe on the floor.

"And third: you're a grass type. If you didn't know already, grass types like you have five weaknesses, including poison. Talk about wimpy!" Skuntank and his buddies then began to laugh at poor Jade.

"J-just go away! If y-you really are an exploration team, y-you'd go out of here and d-do a job!" Jade sniffed.

"Okay. You got off easy this time. But next time you meet us, Team Skull, you may not be so lucky! Chaw-haw-haw!" The trio went up to the ladder and climbed up it. Luckily, the horrible smell left with them.

I unsteadily got to my feet. "Hey Jade, are you okay?" I asked.

She sniffed and approached me. "I'm okay… I-I'm just…" She broke off and began to softly sob.

"Hey, it's okay," I assured her.

She looked up at me forlornly. "Um… Well, thanks and all, but… What they said was true. I'm a chicken."

"No. That's not true. That's absolutely not true," I said.

"I am, though!" Jade insisted.

"No you aren't. Do you remember what happened yesterday? You know, at Waterfall Cave?" I said.

"Yeah… But why do you bring that up now?" Jade said sadly.

"Well, we had to jump through that huge waterfall. If we didn't run in at full speed, we would've DIED. We would've been crushed below that waterfall. Talk about painful. But you… You jumped in. You were brave enough to jump through the waterfall, and look now! According to that annoying Barboach, we're one of the three explorers who found that cave."

"I only jumped in because…"

"Because you were brave. Listen. I'm sure that those idiots—did they call themselves Team Skull?—they probably aren't brave enough to do that."

"…R-really?"

"Really. They're probably all bark and no bite."

"But they stole my Relic Fragment!"  
"They probably won't again. Unless they want to get their butts kicked. Again."

Jade and I shared a weary smile. "Yeah, you're right. So let's do a job. Remember our cheer: don't shirk work!"

"That's the spirit." And with that, we went upstairs to do a job.

Our mission brought us to Mt. Bristle. We tried to immerse ourselves in our job, but it was hard to focus on what was happening in front of us. Team Skull's snide comments still rang in my mind.

On our mission we recruited Kiwi the Doduo, who was super timid.

"T-T-Team Aura… I have a q-question… C-can I… explore with you… for a long time… s-so I won't b-be so s-s-scared… Please?" he stuttered.

"Sure…" Jade said.

"Oh th-thank you!"

Jade looked at me and we silently agreed: Kiwi won't stay forever. We'll have to release him from duty eventually.

We didn't see any sigh of Team Skull until dinner back at the guild. And of course they decide to sit right next to us. Occasionally they would pass a loud comment, like "Gee, the food here tastes like cardboard! Why can't we have one of those Perfect Apples that Wigglytuff has?"

Maybe it was just me, but dinner seemed to take twice as long.

Eventually it was time for bed. It was super difficult to go to bed now that we knew thieves were in the vicinity. I just shifted around, clutching our treasure bag and glancing around as if I expected to get robbed.

It must have been really late. The moon was shining brightly through the window, creating a bright moonbeam that shone on Jade. I touched the green bow around my neck to double check that it was still there. Then I rolled over on my bed of straw and closed my eyes.

XxX

**I don't know about you, but I HATE Team Skull. Yeah... Click "Next Chapter" to find out why...**


	10. Chapter 9: Apple Woods

**Scratch that. THIS is my least favorite chapter.**

**Hey, on the plus side, Team Aura gets a new party member!**

**And Emile learns to really hate Chatot. And what does he do to people he hates? Read on to find out...**

Chapter 9: Apple Woods

The next day, Loudred woke us up in the usual manner. Before we went to the morning briefing, I quickly shuffled through my explorer bag to make sure every item was there. I would be upset if as much as a Plain Seed was missing. After every item was accounted for, we went to the main room.

"Ahem! I have another announcement!" Chatot said before we could do our daily cheer. "You all know about our expedition coming up, am I right? Well, it's coming soon!" he said.

The guild members began to chat to each other. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Sunflora screamed.

"YEAH! There's NO WAY I'm not getting PICKED!" Loudred boomed.

"Ooh, Daddy! I hope I get picked!" Diglett said.

His father, Dugtrio, beamed at him. "I'm sure you'll get picked. Just keep doing well at Sentry Duty."

Chatot cleared his throat again. "I also have another announcement!"

He turned to Team Skull, who was standing next to Wigglytuff. "I would also like to introduce these Pokémon. They will be joining us on our expedition. They call themselves Team Skull."

"I'm Koffing! Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing introduced.

"I'm Zubat! Heh-he-he!" Zubat said.

"And I'm Skuntank! Chaw-haw-haw!" Skuntank laughed, shooting Jade and I a venomous glance.

"THOSE IDIOTS WILL REALLY BE ON OUR EXPEDITION?!" Jade screamed.

Everyone looked at Jade. She hung her head.

"Oh, ignore her. She has a habit of overreacting," Skuntank said to Chatot.

Chatot looked at Jade, then he looked at Skuntank, then he looked back to Jade. "…I see."

Chatot regained his lighthearted mood. "So! While these Pokémon will not become permanent members of the guild, they will be joining us on our expedition. Treat these newcomers with respect. Be a good example for them!" he said. "Now, here's to another good day of work!"

There was a long pause that was eventually broken by all of us saying, "…Hooray."

There was another pause. "'Hooray'? Just 'Hooray'? Why aren't you enthusiastic? Where's your excitement?" Chatot said.

"Can't you see that there's something fishy about this?" Chimecho said.

"YEAH! There's NO way that I'll be ENTHUSIASTIC with these—" Loudred began. But he was suddenly interrupted.

The ground began to rumble. I thought that Dugtrio was flipping the boards, but I knew that wasn't the case. This earthquake was much stronger.

"What is going on?" I shouted.

"It's— The Guildmaster!" Chatot said frantically.

Sure enough, when I looked at the pink rabbit, he looked like he was about to explode. His eyes were shut tightly, and his pudgy arms were curled into "fists".

"OOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo… OOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo…" Wigglytuff grunted.

"Is he about to take a dump?" Jade asked.

"Squawk! The Guildmaster is gonna release his rage!" Chatot screamed.

"Eek!" Sunflora screamed.

"YOOOOoooooOOOOOooooom…" Wigglytuff groaned.

"Quick, everyone! Even if it hurts, we have to be enthusiastic! Now, here's to another good day of work!" Chatot said, flapping his wings in a panic.

"HOORAY!" everyone yelled at the top of their lungs. The rumbling stopped. Wigglytuff returned to normal as if nothing happened.

Everyone went to their posts. We were about to do a job when Chatot called us over. "Ah! You two!"

We walked over to Chatot. "Hm?"

"Today I have a special request for you two."

"Sure! What's up?" Jade said.

"This morning we have found that we have mysteriously run out of Perfect Apples. We simply do not know who did it…" Chatot said.

My eyes flickered to Team Skull, who was listening intently to our conversation. When Chatot mentioned the Perfect Apples, they began to quietly laugh.

"Chatot, I think I know who did it…" I said.

"Now, now, I don't want you to worry about that," Chatot said.

"But—"

"Anyway, do you know what Perfect Apples are, right?" Chatot interrupted.

"Nope," Jade said blankly.

"Perfect Apples are apples that are incredibly delicious. Furthermore, they are the Guildmaster's favorite food. There is supposedly many Perfect Apples deep in Apple Woods. So I want you to fetch some!" Chatot said.

"Okay!" Jade said.

Chatot looked around quickly. "Also, I beg you,_ please don't fail_," he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Why?" I asked.

"They are the Guildmaster's favorite food. And if he doesn't have his share of Perfect Apples…" He trailed off and gulped.

"Yes? What will he do?" Jade prompted.

Chatot groaned. "Erk!" he squeaked.

"Sorry? What will he do?" Jade asked.

He gulped again. "If you don't bring him his Perfect Apples… he will… ugh!"

"He will…?" I asked.

"Yeah. That's what he'll do," Chatot said at last.

I looked at Jade.

"Um… okay. We'll get some Perfect Apples," I said.

"Thank you! I don't want the Guildmaster to… never mind. Get going!"

"Okay!" We rushed out of the guild.

After we stocked up at the Kecleon Shop and gathered Kiwi and Kappa we departed for Apple Woods. We did notice that there was a hole in the ground just outside if Treasure Town. I realized that the hole was in the same place where Spinda, Wynaut and Wobbuffet examined earlier. I also noticed that there was a sign next to the wall.

"'Coming soon: a place where all your hopes and dreams come true!'" I read.

"Hopes and dreams? Whatever," Jade said.

"You don't care about hopes and dreams?" I asked.

"Meh. Dreams and stuff are okay. Just a little on the overly cheerful side," Jade said offhandedly.

"Let's get going," I said.

"Okay." We left the town and went to Apple Woods.

When we got to Apple Woods, we looked around. We were in a forest like area with tall trees. On pretty much every tree ripe red apples grew. Sometimes I could see some apples were clustered around the trees.

"Well, we won't get hungry here," I said.

"Good point," Jade said.

"Well, let's go!"

"Okay."

We went into the forest.

It was a peaceful forest for the most part.

All in all, the forest was rather easy. Sure, sometimes I would run into a Butterfree who would use a move like Gust or Confusion which would hurt a lot. I would also sometimes feel a sharp prick on the back of my neck. I would turn around and find a huge Beedrill behind me with wicked spears on its hands. Jade and I would defeat it relatively easily even though we were at a type disadvantage.

Kiwi was being rather useless. He would run away and we would have to track him down. "I-I'm sorry. It's just… I'm s-scared easily…"

Kappa got seriously injured, so we had to send him back to the guild. "Don't worry about it. Just get a good rest, okay?" I said.

"Okay… I'm sorry for troubling you…" he said.

"It's fine." He touched his badge and teleported away.

A floor later we found a young Budew wanted to join us.

"Sure! What's your name?" Jade asked.

"Anisha Esperanto McAlister!" she said brightly.

"Um… okay… Nice to meet you, Anisha Esper—" I began. The Budew giggled.

"Hee hee! Don't call me that stupid name! Just call me Ani-Chan!" she said.

"Oka, Ani-Chan," I said.

So with Kiwi and Ani-Chan in tow, we continued to forge through the forest.

Soon we got to a very deep part of the forest. A huge tree stood in front of us, and on that tree several very large and shiny apples hung. There were also quite a few apples that had fallen around the tree.

"Looks like we found our Perfect Apples," Jade said.

"Ooh, Perfect Apples? I want to have one! Can I have one?" Ani-Chan asked.

"They're not for us, they're for the Guildmaster," I said.

"The Guildmaster? You're apprentices at the Wigglytuff Guild?" Ani-Chan asked in awe.

"Yes. We are. And due to mysterious circumstances Wigglytuff's Perfect Apple supply ran out. So we have to get some more for him." Jade's voice rose slightly when she said "mysterious circumstances".

"'Mysterious circumstances'? Are you talking about… US?" a familiar voice said. I blinked once… and I saw my new worst enemies.

Team Skull emerged from behind the huge tree. They looked incredibly happy. And whenever thieves are happy, someone else is gonna be sad.

"Grr… You three! What are you doing here?" Jade growled.

"Well, we've decided to… follow you to see where these Perfect Apples are. We want to take these back to the Guildmaster so he'll be happy. Heh-heh-heh!" Zubat sneered.

"Sorry to bust your bubble, but that's OUR job for today. And you aren't gonna just stroll in and take all the credit for our hard work," I said.

"You idiot! You just told them our plan!" Skuntank said in a loud whisper.

"Whenever scumbags like you have a plan, it's never good," I remarked.

"Ahem! So, change of plans!" Skuntank said, looking very awkward. "You can have all the apples."

Jade and I didn't budge. Kiwi tried to move towards the criminals, but I motioned for him to stay back.

"Um…yeah. No. We ain't gonna pick up those apples, thieves!" Jade said.

"…Dang it. She knows about our trap!" Koffing whispered.

"Shut up!" Skuntank hissed.

"I knew it!" I said. "You aren't gonna take credit for our work."

"No. We aren't. However…" Skuntank said. "You two are going down."

I braced myself for a fight. "Look out, Jade!" I whispered.

"Look out is right! Prepare for… KOFFING AND SKUNTANK'S NOXIOUS SPECIAL GAS COMBO!" Skuntank cried. Before I could even think about what the "noxious special gas combo" meant, Koffing floated up to Skuntank and released a huge cloud of foul-smelling gas.

You know what I said earlier about Skuntank's stench smelling a thousand times worse than a normal skunk? Back then, I thought that smell was the worst smell ever. Yeah. I was much mistaken. This smell was a thousand times worse than Skuntank's stench alone. Luckily I didn't have to smell that stink for long, because almost as soon as Skuntank and Koffing expelled the gas, we passed out.

XxX

"Ugh…" I was slowly brought into consciousness. _Where… are we?_ I blinked and saw that Jade, Kiwi, and Ani-Chan were lying on the ground, looking dazed. "Jade?" I asked, shaking her gently.

"Bleh… They got us all…" she muttered. She sat up and coughed for a minute.

"Kiwi? Ani-Chan?" I asked.

The Doduo and the Budew sat up. "Oh… Talk about stinky!" Kiwi said.

"I'm a poison type and that stunk!" Ani-Chan complained.

I looked at the apple tree in front of us. Right! This is that Perfect Apple tree! But… where are the Perfect Apples?

Jade gasped. "I don't see the Perfect Apples," she said.

"Oh no… Do you think that Team Skull…" I said with increasing dread.

"There has to be at least one apple somewhere…" Jade said.

Kiwi and Ani-Chan searched all around the tree while Jade and I climbed up it. But we couldn't find a single Perfect Apple anywhere.

"Oh no… I guess we have to report back to the guild…" Jade said sadly.

"Yeah…" I said gloomily.

We all touched our badges, and we were back at the guild. "See you guys tomorrow," I said to Kiwi and Ani-Chan. They walked to Treasure Town, and we went up to Wigglytuff's guild.

"How'd it go?" Chatot said once we got back in. "Did you get any Perfect Apples?" Chatot ruffled his feathers and looked around nervously.

Our downcast looks were self-explanatory. "About that…" I said.

"Don't tell me… You didn't bring back a single Perfect Apple?" Chatot said.

"We didn't, but we—" Jade began

"SQUAWK! You didn't bring back a Perfect Apple? Nooooo! The Guildmaster will be furious!" he said, now thoroughly panicking.

"Chatot, we can explain—"

"No! That's enough!" He took a breath. "Now. I suppose that we'll have to tell the Guildmaster…Come with me." Chatot went down the ladder.

We looked at each other for a moment. Then we followed him sullenly.

Wigglytuff's chamber was no longer warm and inviting, but now hot and devilish. Wigglytuff stood on his rug looking as inept as usual.

"Friendly friends! Did you bring me back a Perfect Apple?" Wigglytuff said.

"Um…er…well…see…" Jade stuttered.

"See, Team Aura… didn't bring back any Perfect Apples," Chatot spit out.

"Oh, that's okay! Everyone makes mistakes! As long as you brought me back…" Wigglytuff trailed off. "Wait. N-no… No Perfect Apples…?"

Wigglytuff gasped. His eyes began to tear up. Then he began to sniff and moan.

"Sniff… Sniff… Sob…" he sobbed.

_Wah! Is he gonna cry?_

"Sniffle… Sniff… Urrrrr… Urrrrrrrrrrrr…" Wigglytuff groaned.

Chatot cringed. "Plug your ears," he whispered.

I barely had time to raise my paws to my ears before the ground began to shake.

It was almost exactly like what happened earlier today: the ground began to shake, and Wigglytuff looked like he was about to explode.

"OOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo… OOOOOoooooOOOOOooooo…" Wigglytuff groaned.

Even with my paws pressed firmly over my pointy ears, the noise was deafening.

"YYYYYoooooOOOOOooooommmmm…." The ground began to shake more violently. I began to feel like a bug trapped in a spider web: petrified, with no way to escape my impending doom.

Then…

"Guildmaster! We brought you a Perfect Apple!" It was Skuntank.

The horrible Pokémon was standing at the doorway along with Koffing and Zubat. He held a ripe, red Perfect Apple and was smirking at us.

The ground stopped shaking, which was gratifying. Wigglytuff went back to normal.

"Ooh! Perfect Apple! Perfect Apple! Yay!" Wigglytuff said. He ran up to Team Skull and snatched the apple away. He then began to bounce the apple on his head.

"Thank you, friendly friends! Yay!" he said.

"No, thank you for allowing us to go on this expedition!" Skuntank said with a false smile.

Chatot turned to us. "My, my, Team Aura! I expected better from you!" he said.

"But… It was them!" Jade said, pointing to Team Skull.

"Team Skull? They accomplished what you two didn't! If they hadn't come in just now, the Guildmaster would've… Whatever! You should be thanking them!" Chatot said.

"Yes! Please thank us!" Skuntank said.

_ Why should we thank you? You scumbags are taking credit for OUR work!_ I thought. I could tell Jade was thinking the same thing, as she had her "anger face" on.

"Well?" Chatot said impatiently.

"Thank you for doing the job that we failed at doing," I said stiffly. Thank you. Yeah right.

Jade was silent.

"Jade? What do you say?" Skuntank said, leering unpleasantly.

"Thank you for bringing in a Perfect Apple before Wigglytuff unleashed his rage." Under her breath, she said, "I would have liked it better if he blasted us."

"Hm? What did you say?" Chatot said.

"Oh, nothing…!" Jade said, putting on a hasty smile.

Chatot nodded, unconvinced. "Uh huh. Yeah. So, Team Skull, why don't you go off to dinner? I want to discuss Emile and Jade's punishment in privacy."

"Alright." And Team Skull finally left.

Chatot looked at us. I really wish I was at dinner now, I thought. It's a whole lot better place than in here.

"Team Aura! I am very disappointed in you! I thought that you were a good team! I thought that you were hardworking and reliable! But no! Instead, you're lazy! Making Team Skull do the work for you!" he huffed.

"But—" I said, trying to explain.

"SILENCE! Do not interrupt a genius like me in mid-lecture! Now, I think I know of a suitable punishment for you. You two… will have to go without dinner for tonight!" he said.

"WHAT?!" Jade and I said simultaneously.

"See, you failed at your job, and as such, that can't go unpunished. So therefore, you will not be served dinner," Chatot said.

"It wasn't us! I swear!" I said.

"I don't want to hear excuses. Now, let's go! Dinner is gonna be out in a minute."

"But I thought you said—" I began.

"You won't be served dinner. But you will have to watch everyone eat," he said.

To me, that was rubbing salt on the wound. First Team Skull comes in and takes credit for our work. Then Chatot decided to deprive us of dinner without giving us a chance to explain ourselves. And on top of all that, we had to watch everyone eat.

_Why?!_ I wanted to scream. _Why are you so cruel?! Why do you trust Team Skull? WHY?!_

Jade's eyes were full of tears. "Chatot…" she muttered hopelessly.

"There, there, it's only for one night," Chatot said, trying to sound sympathetic. Though I could tell that he didn't pity us in the slightest.

I looked hopelessly at Wigglytuff, hoping that he would speak up and stop this. But he just continued to eat his Perfect Apple.

Chatot led us to the mess hall. Our plates were empty, just as Chatot said. "Now, you two stand right here. Don't try to cheat people out of their food." Chatot positioned us right behind Skuntank and went to the head of the table to eat.

Dinner seemed to take forever. The only indication that time was passing was the fact that I could see the sky slowly darkening through the small window. Occasionally Skuntank would pass a snide comment, but I could barely hear them. My stomach was growling too loud.

Finally it was time for bed. Jade and I went to our rooms, our stomachs groaning. Once we got to our room, Jade spent a few minutes pacing around, swearing and complaining.

"It's not fair. It's just not fair," she said for the millionth time.

"I know. Tomorrow we'll get a few apples from the Kangaskhan Storage," I said.

"By tomorrow I might be dead of starvation! What was that birdbrain thinking?" Jade said.

I opened up my explorer bag and fished around in it for a minute. ...Of course I didn't find any apples in there._ Dang! No more apples in here!_ I thought. It was kind of ironic, because Apple Woods was teeming with apples. Yet I didn't pick any up. I had no idea this mess would happen.

I did find the remains of a Reviver Seed in the bag: a Plain Seed. I examined it, and eventually decided that we would eat that. Kecleon said that these things taste like cardboard… But hopefully it will be somewhat filling…

"Hey, Jade."

"Yes?"

"Happy birthday." I held out the Plain Seed.

"Oh, thank you!" She scarfed it down quickly. A second later, she recoiled. "Bleah! This tastes like—"

"Cardboard. Yeah. I know."

We shared a weary smile. "Alright, Emile. Time to go to sleep," Jade said.

"You're right. Sweet dreams."

I sat down on my bed and tried to ignore the rumbling of my stomach. _Don't worry. You'll get food tomorrow,_ I thought. _Tomorrow…_

XxX

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared again.

"Oog… I'm so hungry…" Jade muttered, sitting up.

"Okay. After the briefing, we're gonna go to the Kangaskhan Storage to get some apples, okay?" I said.

"Okay…" Jade said.

We went into the main room and did our usual cheer. "AND…THREE! SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"Okay, Pokémon! Time to get to work!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" Everyone dispersed to their posts.

We stared into space for a moment until Chatot called us over. He seemed to be mostly over last night's Perfect Apple episode. "Ah, you two."

"Chatot, I'm sorry about last night…" I muttered, looking down.

"Are you still angry at us?" Jade asked.

"I'm still somewhat disappointed in you. But tonight, if you perform well enough, I'll let you have dinner tonight," he said.

"Thank you. So what do we do today?" I asked.

"Today, I want you to just do a job on one of the boards. However…" Chatot's expression changed. He looked… angry. Incredibly angry. "You're not going on the expedition."

Jade almost instantly began to tear up. "Chatot…!" She tried to sound angry, but her voice quivered. _Oh no. She's gonna cry._

"What do you mean?" I asked. I found that I was beginning to get angry.

"Yesterday's episode was too chaotic. I would be quite surprised if you two happen to get chosen," Chatot said. He glanced at Jade, who was crying now. He didn't look the least bit sympathetic.

Somehow I knew: once Jade stopped crying, things were gonna get violent. I didn't want that. But…

"Hey, Jade. Go upstairs and find a job for us. I'll be there in a minute…" I glared at Chatot. He ruffled his feathers nervously.

Jade brushed away a tear. "O-okay, Emile. Be back in a jiffy." She walked over to the ladder, quietly crying to herself.

As soon as she was up the ladder, I whirled around to face Chatot. "What are you THINKING?! Why did you just dump it on her?" I roared.

"Er—um… I—" he stuttered.

"Look, can't you tell that Jade gets upset easily? If you were just to say, 'You're not going on the expedition', Jade's gonna get ANGRY!" I said, getting increasingly angry.

"Well, I, er… um… wanted to—"

"Yeah, I thought so!" I interrupted.

"At least let me—"

"Explain yourself? You don't let US explain ourselves! Why is that?" I asked.

"I—"

Then I heard some laughter off to my left. I turned… and saw Team Skull laughing their stinky butts off. I approached the trio.

"And you guys! Shut up! Please! Stop bugging me and Jade! And stop taking credit for our work!" I spat. Koffing and Zubat cringed, but Skuntank held his ground.

"See, we didn't take credit for your work. We simply—"

"Followed us into the forest, knocked us out with your noxious gassy combo _whatever_ thing, and stole the apples! Then you came in and were all like, 'We brought you your Perfect Apples' and you didn't even—"

"Emile! Do not insult such exceptional members of the guild!" Chatot huffed.

"EXCEPTIONAL?! They ROBBED Jade! ROBBED. HER!" I roared.

"Such wonderful members wouldn't think of robbing that chicken—er… Chikorita," Chatot said.

"They would! And DON'T. CALL. JADE. A. CHICKEN!" I screamed.

Chatot opened his beak to respond, but suddenly a flash of green sped toward him. It hit him in the side and caused him to fall down. What? What just happened? I asked. Then I realized what happened.

Jade had appeared. She must have heard the commotion and come down.

"Hey, Emile," she said unsteadily. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and a small tear traced its way down her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just a lot of verbal arguing and name calling. It's fine," I said.

"Well, I heard Chatot call me a chicken. And then I completely snapped. So no. It's not fine. Not for me, anyway," Jade said angrily.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. "We could've argued all day."

Chatot groaned and sat up. "Jade—"

"You called me a chicken…" Jade growled.

Chatot was silent for a moment. "I was just—"

"If anything, you should be the one to not go on the expedition."

"This fight has pretty much _guaranteed _that you won't go on the expedition! You'll be lucky if the Guildmaster even bats an _eye _at you!" he said savagely. Chatot went up the ladder, cursing to himself.

"Hey, Jade. Did you find us a job?" I asked.

"I found a job, but…" Jade began. She was interrupted by a loud moan from her stomach. "I can't really work on an empty stomach…"

"Hey! Over here!" a voice said suddenly. We looked around the floor for whoever had spoken, though we couldn't see anyone.

"Who's there?" Jade asked.

"Shh! Keep your voice low!" I heard the voice again.

We looked around again, and this time I saw Bidoof, Sunflora, and Chimecho by the tunnel that led to our bedroom.

"You guys? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Shh! Just follow us!" Chimecho whispered. Everyone began to make their way to our crew room. We followed them.

"Okay, what's this all about?" Jade asked.

"Good. No one saw it, except maybe Croagunk…" Sunflora said.

"Why are you guys going all Metal Gear on us?" Jade asked.

"Alright. This is it, yup, yup," Bidoof said.

Sunflora and Chimecho placed two ripe apples in front of us.

Jade's mouth instantly began to water. "A-apples? For us?" she said.

"Yeah! We saw you last night and we all wondered what was up. Then we realized that Chatot had decided to punish you. So we all talked, and we decided to spare a little bit of our dinner for you!" Chimecho said.

"For the record, I didn't think it was you for a minute!" Sunflora said.

"So, what are y'all waiting for? Dig in!" Bidoof said.

We didn't hesitate. We picked up the apples and instantly began to eat.

Ever since I'd turned into a Pokémon, I've had a lot of apples to eat. But for some reason, the apple Sunflora and Chimecho gave us tasted better than any apples I had previously had.

Soon we had finished the apples, and I felt considerably better. Jade looked refreshed as well.

"Thank you!" I said.

"You're very welcome!" Sunflora said.

"Now, don't go searching for trouble, because we may not spare you food next time!" Bidoof joked.

Jade and I laughed, but Jade almost immediately stopped laughing.

"What's wrong?" Sunflora asked.

"Well, earlier, Chatot said rather forcefully that we probably aren't gonna go on the expedition. He said yesterday was too chaotic…" she said.

"Aw, don't feel down. Who knows? You may get to go on the expedition. I honestly think that I won't go on the expedition…" Chimecho said offhandedly.

"Yeah, good point… Thanks for cheering me up, Chimecho," Jade said.

"No problem!" Chimecho replied cheerfully.

Jade turned to me. "Alright. We may not get to go, but we'll still make an attempt. Does that sound like a plan?" she said.

"Dang right, that sounds like a plan!" I agreed.

We smiled. Even if we probably weren't going to get picked, we could at least put an effort into it.

Why? Because we were Team Aura.

And we weren't gonna give up.

XxX

**I. HATE. TEAM. SKULL.**


	11. Chapter 10: Spinda's Cafe

**THIS. CHAPTER. IS. HORRIBLE.**

**There's no other way to put it. It's horrible. Absolutely horrible.**

** Just a warning; if you don't want your eyes bleeding, skip this chapter. Please.  
**

Chapter 10: Spinda's Cafe

Almost as soon as we exited our room, Croagunk called us over.

"Meh-heh-heh. That seemed a little… suspicious. Not that it's my business, but what were you doing?" he said.

"Um… nothing…" I said. I was kind of creeped out by Croagunk with his mysterious cauldron and his weird laugh.

"Anyway, I called you over here to show you my latest invention: the Croagunk Swap Shop!" he said grandly.

I glanced at Jade. "The Croagunk… what?"

"The Croagunk Swap Shop!" he repeated.

"Um… Could you please elaborate some more?" Jade asked.

"So, let's say you get your hands on an Exclusive Item, for example, a Chiko-Card and a Chiko-Claw. Well, if you talk to me, you can swap them for a rarer item with a better effect. If you swapped your Chiko-Card and your Chiko-Claw, you'd get a Dawn Jewel, which raises not one, but two of Jade's stats," Croagunk explained.

"Ah! That sounds cool. But where do we get these Exclusive Items?" I asked.

"Meh. Heh-heh. Meh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh… You'll see…" he said.

I looked at Jade again "Okay…"

Once we took our job, we went upstairs to prepare in Treasure Town. But as we walked down the hill, we were called over by someone.

"Hey! Are you two explorers?" It was a Mr. Mime. He was standing next to the hole in the ground. An Octillery stood next to him.

"Yes we are," I said.

"Well, this sign says something about wonderful news for explorers," Mr. Mime said.

"You two might want to check it out," Octillery said.

I looked at Jade. "Should we look in there?" I asked.

"I don't see why not," Jade said.

And so Jade and I walked down the stairs.

When we got down, we found that we were in a sort of café. A few tables and chairs were set up, and on our left, there appeared to be some sort of bar with a cardboard cutout Spinda head on the top. There was a similar structure on the right side of the room, but it had a cutout of a Wynaut head.

But we could barely see the structures, mainly because there was a huge, chattering mass of Pokémon crowded in the small room. The chattering stopped when someone at the front of the room cleared his throat.

"May I have your attention please?" someone said. The chattering died down, and everyone turned their attention to the speaker up front. I peered through the crowd and saw a Spinda, a Wynaut, and a Wobbuffet at the front of the crowd.

"Today I would like to make a wonderful announcement! Thanks to all your time and patronage, Spinda's Café has become quite popular!" Spinda said.

"This place has been open and we haven't noticed?" Jade hissed.

"And because of that popularity, the main event here, the Recycle Shop, has become very successful!" Spinda continued.

"Um… the what?" I asked.

"And because of that success, we have decided to kick start a new program! We call it… Project P!" Spinda said.

The Wynaut and Wobbuffet clapped and threw handfuls of confetti.

"Project P?" Jade echoed.

"What's that?" Mr. Mime asked.

"You already know what the Recycle Shop does, right? You can trade in your unwanted items for new items. But after all your kind patronage we have stocked up on a lot of items! The Recycle Shop will be basically the same. But with all the accumulated items, we can explore unexplored areas!" Spinda said, growing more and more excited.

"And…" Jade said.

"And if we explore these new areas, then we might find wonderful treasure! Probably…" Spinda said.

"Treasure? Whoooooah!" Heracross said.

"And then, we'll bring back the treasure, and after that, you'll get a special deal at the Recycle Shop! Then we'll use the items we get in return to go on expeditions, and then the cycle repeats itself! Cool, huh?" Spinda said.

The crowd began to cheer again.

"Yay! Treasure!" Pachirisu said.

"This'll really help us on our travels," a Zangoose said to his friends, a Sandslash and a Scyther.

"Yay! So keep your hopes and dreams alive!" Spinda said.

"HOORAY!"

Jade looked at me. "That sounds cool, huh? Recycle items for more items."  
"Yeah." My stomach rumbled. I'm still hungry after the apple Chimecho and Sunflora gave me? What's up with that?

"Ugh… I'm hungry," I said.

"You're hungry? I can fix that." It was Spinda.

"Spinda?" I asked.

"I can help you if you're hungry!" he said.

"How?" Jade asked.

Spinda smiled. "Come over here and I'll show you." He walked to the juice bar to our left, beckoning for us to follow.

Once we got there, Spinda was jumping up and down in excitement. "Hello! Welcome to Spinda's Juice Bar!" he said.

"Juice? Sounds good! What's on the menu?" Jade said.

"Menu… I don't really have a menu. See, you're going to have to bring your own ingredients," Spinda explained.

"Aw, man, what a rip-off! We have to bring our own items? Do we have to make it ourselves, too?" Jade said sarcastically.

"Just let me explain. If you bring me an edible item, like an Oran Berry or an apple, I'll make it a tasty drink!" Spinda explained.

"Ah, sounds good!" I said before Jade could continue to complain.

"I thought so!" Spinda said. He gestured over to the right side of the café where Wynaut and Wobbuffet were standing. "You can even give a drink to one of your recruited members here! Oh, and you already know about the Recycle Shop, right?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Are you sure?" Spinda tested.

"Um… If you put it that way…" Jade said.

"Right! Did you know that the Recycle Shop has a prize drawing?" Spinda said.

"Prize drawing?" I repeated.

"Yes. You can recycle some items that you choose and get a prize ticket. Then you can redeem that ticket and enter a prize drawing. Wynaut will give you three colors to choose from: red, blue, or yellow. If you choose the right color, you will be able to win big treasure!" he said giddily.

"Big Treasure… I like the sound of that," Jade mused.

"Yes! So pop on by the Recycle Shop if you want to enter the drawing!" Spinda said.

"We will. So… Were you saying something about a drink?" I asked. Spinda smiled.

"Which ingredient shall I use?" he said.

I took two Oran Berries out of my Explorer Bag and put them on the table.

Jade and I enjoyed some tasty Oran Berry smoothies for a little while. Spinda was a very good cook and turned the firm berries into a smooth drink. Ani-Chan and Kiwi eventually showed up and requested some drinks as well, and so I made some Blast Seed sodas.

"Here's to another good day of exploring!" I said, holding up my glass.

"Hooray!" Jade, Ani-Chan and Kiwi said, gulping down a swig of their drink.

When we were finished with our drinks, we left the café and went to prepare in Treasure Town, ready to take whatever challenge that we faced head on.

XxX

**I'm so sorry for making your eyes bleed. So sorry...  
**


	12. Chapter 11: Craggy Coast

**Here's a chapter that's probably not as bad as the last one. Probably. I hope you enjoy this one.**

Chapter 11: Craggy Coast

We did our job that day with no strange events. Chatot was rather pleased with our work, and on our way to dinner, he whispered "Sorry for this morning," to us.

_ Could it be possible? Is Mr. Birdbrain actually being nice?_ I smiled to myself. _This must be some sort of world record._

The next day, we did Sentry Duty again. We did even better than last time and got a Reviver Seed for our efforts.

"Yay! So when we get picked for the expedition, we'll be prepared!" Jade said, putting emphasis on the word when.

The next day we did another normal job. After the job was done, our team leveled up to the "Bronze Rank". According to Chatot, we could now store more items in the Kangaskhan Storage. We received a Protein for our efforts and were told to continue doing our best.

Once we received our reward, the dinner bell rang.

"Yeah! Time for dinner!" Jade said.

We raced into the mess hall and took our place at the long table. But before we could eat dinner, Chatot had an announcement for us.

"C'MON! Why are you MAKING US WAIT?!" Loudred said.

"I'm hungry! Let's eat!" Chimecho complained.

"Why won't you let us eat what's in front of us?" Dugtrio asked.

"I'm sure you will like this announcement a lot, so be patient and listen!" Chatot said. All complaining ceased.

"The Guildmaster has apparently finalized his decision on who's going on the expedition!" he said.

The babble broke out again.

"Oof… I hope I get to go…" Bidoof said tremulously.

"YEAH! I'm SO gonna get picked!" Loudred boasted.

"I've been working hard in Sentry Duty, haven't I?" Diglett said.

Jade looked at me. "About dang time! This whole thing has had me all jittery!" she said.

"And that is all! Now, dig in!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" everyone cried.

Dinner was rushed and loud. Everyone was talking about tomorrow, including Jade, who just wouldn't be quiet for a moment.

"Why are you suddenly so talkative?" I asked.

"So sorry… I talk a lot if I'm nervous…" Jade said.

"I'm nervous about tomorrow too…" I said.

"But hey, no hard feelings if we don't get picked," Jade said quickly.

"Yeah, no hard feelings."

Before long we were in bed. Well, I was. Jade paced around the room, muttering, "Oh man… Can't sleep… Too nervous…"

"Yes you can. Just think, 'I can go to sleep.' It will help," I said.

Jade was quiet for a moment.

"I'll try…" she said. She sat down on her bed and closed her eyes, trying to go to sleep. I laid my head down as well, but sleep came easier for me than it was for Jade.

_ I just hope we get picked… Jade will be crushed if we don't go… Please…_ I thought. Then I drifted off to sleep.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Loudred woke us up.

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S TIME TO ANNOUNCE THE MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION!" Loudred roared.

Jade quickly sat up, her eyes clear and alert. "Let's go, Emile! I want to know who goes!" she said.

"Yeah… okay…" I said.

Jade pranced around excitedly, leaving me to slowly trudge behind.

_ She's so excited… Even though Chatot said we probably weren't going on the expedition…_ I shrugged. _Well, you can hope…_

We walked into the main room where everyone was assembled. Diglett and Dugtrio were side by side, talking quietly to each other. Chimecho kept fidgeting around. Team Skull was off to the side, leering unpleasantly to us as we entered.

"Ahem! Now, today is a big day, as you all know," Chatot said, breaking the isolated talking. "Today we will be announcing the members of the expedition!"

Everyone was looking at Chatot, transfixed on the parrot.

Chatot pulled out a piece of paper. "On this memo, the Guildmaster has written down the apprentices who will join us on our expedition!" He held it up.

"Just say the names already! The suspense is killing me!" Jade said impatiently.

"When we call your name, come up here and stand by the Guildmaster!" Chatot said.

"Get on with it!" Jade said.

Everyone else (including me) chorused, "YEAH!"

"Okay, okay! Now, the first member is… LOUDRED!" Chatot announced.

Loudred pumped his fist in the air and let out a whoop. "YEAH! I got PICKED!" He walked up and took his place by Wigglytuff. "But if you THINK about it, it's only NATURAL that I would get picked!" he bragged.

Everyone stared at Loudred.

"Says you…" Sunflora muttered.

"Big talker…" Bidoof grumbled.

"Was he even nervous…?" Chimecho said.

"Next up is… CORPHISH!" Chatot said.

Corphish gasped. "Hey hey! I got picked! I got picked!" he said. He took his place next to Loudred.

"Next up is…" Chatot paused and squinted at the paper. "Well, this is a surprise! Bidoof!"

There was a squeak next to us. Bidoof was trembling fiercely with small tears in his eyes.

"Bidoof? Are you going to step up?" Chatot asked, noticing the trembling Bidoof.

"Aw, shucks… I'd love to… But… I'm feeling… super overwhelmed… My legs… are kind of frozen… I… can't move…" he said emotionally. "J-just go on."

"Okay… Next up, we have SUNFLORA and CHIMECHO!" Chatot said.

Sunflora gasped. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm actually going! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" she said. She walked up and stood next to Corphish.

Chimecho spun around happily, ringing her bell. "Yes! Yes! I got picked!" She floated up next to Sunflora.

"And that's it!" Chatot concluded.

Jade whimpered. "Oh…" She began to tremble. She sniffed, and I saw she was crying.

Team Skull began to laugh.

"Haha! Looks like those losers didn't get chosen," Skuntank snickered.

"Those idiots had it coming," Zubat said.

"They had no chance," Koffing said.

"And so—Wait. What's this?" Chatot looked at his note again. "Hmm…" He looked closely at the note."On the margins of this note… Untidy handwriting… If I don't say it…" he muttered to himself.

He stiffened. "There's more on here," he said.

Jade instantly brightened up. "Really?" she said.

"Yes… Also going on our expedition will be… Croagunk, Diglett, Dugtrio… oh, and Emile and Jade, too."

Jade's eyes widened. She gasped. Then she tackled me down with a hug. When she finally got up, she grinned like a maniac.

"Yes! We're going on the expedition! I can't believe it! Take that, idiots!" Jade said, leering at Team Skull.

_ I'm certainly glad that we're going… But wait. The expedition members are Loudred, Corphish, Bidoof, Sunflora, Chimecho, Croagunk, Diglett, Dugtrio, and Jade and me…_ I thought. But before I could think more about it, Chatot realized what I had suddenly realized.

"What? G-Guildmaster… this list contains every member of the guild!" Chatot said.

"Yep! It does! See, I was getting so excited and I wanted so many Pokémon that I couldn't sleep! Then I just wrote down all the names!" Wigglytuff said cheerfully, throwing his pudgy arms in the air.

"But that means the whole selection process was meaningless! That and we'll be leaving the guild completely undefended!" Chatot cried.

"Don't worry. We'll lock up the place good and tight when we leave," Wigglytuff said.

"Guildmaster, I also have some misgivings about this. What's the point if everyone went? I mean, aren't you still angry at Emile and Jade for the Perfect Apple incident? Shouldn't they stay behind?" Skuntank said, shooting us a look of pure hatred.

"Oh, when a friend says that, I just have to wonder why…" Wigglytuff said.

"Heh," Zubat whispered. "Looks like Team Aura will be missing out on this."

"Well of course there's a point! If everyone went,_ it would be more fun!_" he said.

Skuntank stepped back, obviously surprised. "W-what?"

Now it was Jade's turn to laugh. "Hahahahaha! Idiots! If you wanna mess up our day, you're gonna have to get past Wigglytuff!" she laughed.

"And so that's what's gonna happen: we'll all go on the expedition, and we'll be noisy and excited and it will be fun, fun, fun! Yoom… TAH!" Wigglytuff said.

"HOORAY!" everyone cheered.

Chatot grumbled. "That crazy Wigglytuff…"

"What?" Wigglytuff said.

"Oh—nothing! So, we will give you three hours to prepare. Those chosen—that is, everyone—should go to Treasure Town to prepare. Once you are all finished, report back here. Understood?" Chatot said.

"Understood!" we all said.

"Okay! Dismissed!" And with a wave of his wing, Chatot shooed us off to prepare.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! You two were worried about not making it!" Sunflora said.

"Yeah…" I said wearily. I still couldn't believe that we were chosen in the end. And it was all thanks to Wigglytuff's ineptness.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! We got picked WE GOT PICKED!" Jade cheered.

"And it was all thanks to that crazy Wigglytuff..."

"Yoom tah!" Jade said.

"Yeah!" I said.

"So anyway, let's go get prepared." We climbed up the ladder and went to prepare in Treasure Town.

The Kecleon brothers had heard about the expedition and stocked up on exploration items: Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds.

"After all, we want you to do your best!" Kecleon said.

After that, we stored some items in the Kangaskhan Storage and withdrew all our Reviver Seeds.

"Good luck, sweeties!" Kangaskhan said.

We deposited all our money in the Duskull Bank, got a quick drink at Spinda's Café, bid farewell to Kiwi and Ani-Chan and returned to the guild.

Soon all of us were assembled at the guild.

"Okay, are we all accounted for?" Chatot asked.

"Yep!" Wigglytuff said, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Okay! Here's the plan: we're going to investigate an area called Foggy Forest. The forest is obviously covered in fog. Hidden deep in the forest is supposedly a lake that is surrounded by mysteries. So we want to find that lake and discover any treasures there!" Chatot explained.

"Sounds like a plan," Jade said.

"We will set out in small groups for the forest. The Guildmaster and I will be traveling in a pair," Chatot said.

"Awwwww! Why do I have to go with Chatot? That's booooring!" Wigglytuff pouted.

"Guildmaster…" Chatot trailed off. "Ahem! So Team Skull will be traveling as their own group," he continued.

"Chaw-haw-haw! Gotcha, Guildmaster!" Skuntank chortled.

"Loudred, Sunflora, and Dugtrio will be traveling as a threesome," Chatot said.

"OKAY! You'd BETTER not SLOW ME DOWN!" Loudred roared at the poor Pokémon.

"Okay…" Sunflora squeaked.

"Yes sir…" Dugtrio muttered.

"Diglett, Chimecho, Corphish, and Croagunk will be a foursome," Chatot continued.

"Okay, guys! Do your best as always!" Chimecho chided.

"And lastly, Emile, Jade, and Bidoof will be a trio," Chatot concluded.

"Oof… I hope I don't mess you up…" Bidoof muttered sheepishly.

"You'll do fine," I assured him.

"Okay, apprentices. Are we all set?" Chatot asked.

"YEAH!" everyone replied.

"Alright! Time to move on out!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" we all cheered.

And with that, we went up the ladder.

XxX

Jade, Bidoof and I set out, using our Wonder Map to guide us. Soon we got to a cave on a cliff. The vast ocean splashed below us.

"Okay, this place is called Craggy Coast. Chatot said our destination was somewhere around here…" Jade said, pointing to an area shrouded with clouds. "So we should be a third of the way there."

_ How come she's acting like she's in charge? I'm the leader, I_ thought. Then it dawned on me. _Right… She's just happy that we got picked. I can understand that._

I stared at the cave entrance. It was dark, and I couldn't see a thing. Then my eyes fell on a gray stone just to the left of the entrance.

I focused on the rock. It was a very peculiar rock that had a very strange shape. I blinked and found that the rock was in the shape of a Kangaskhan.

"What's that?" I asked.

Bidoof looked at me like I was slow. "That? By golly, that's a Kangaskhan Rock."

"A Kangaskhan Rock?" I repeated.

"Yes. See, I hear that you can adjust your items in it, yup, yup," Bidoof explained.

"Do what?" Jade asked.

"Oh! I think I know. You can somehow withdraw items from the Kangaskhan Storage using it. That's cool," I said.

"You can also save a record of your adventure using it, whatever that means," Bidoof added. Then he blushed. "Oof… Sorry… I'm sorry I'm lecturing you…"

"Hey, it's fine. This is our first expedition, too. We need to know the basics so we don't end up derping off whenever we see a Kangaskhan Rock," Jade said.

"Aw, shucks. Y'all are so nice…" Bidoof said.

Jade shot me a glance that probably meant, Can you believe him?

We deposited some useless items that we forgot to deposit in Treasure Town. Then we were ready to set off.

Craggy Coast was a very easy dungeon full of water types. Jade seemed to be having the time of her life. She just took down enemy after enemy.

It was pretty easy for me as well. I don't know what happened, but out of nowhere, I hit an enemy Spheal with my palm. Almost instantly, it disintegrated.

"Cool! You know Force Palm now!" Jade said.

"Force Palm?" I echoed.

"Yeah. It's a move," Jade said simply.

"Great explanation…" I muttered.

I did have a few problems, though. The coast was filled with Wingulls who would resist my attacks and did extra damage to me.

"They're Flying types, yup, yup. They're resistant to Fighting types like you. They also do more damage to you. Watch out for Flying types and Psychic types; they're strong against you," Bidoof explained.

"Thanks for the heads up," I said, taking out another Oran Berry from our pack. (Man, those Wingulls really know how to rough a Pokémon up!)

Eventually we saw a light up ahead.

"Guys! I think that's the exit!" I exclaimed.

"Yup, you're right!" Bidoof said.

"Alright! Let's go!" Jade said.

And the three of us emerged into the bright sunlight.

XxX

**Hooray! Team Aura is on the expedition! Chaw-haw-haw to you, Skuntank!**


	13. Chapter 12: Mt Horn

**Another chapter. Nothing really noteworthy here. Enjoy.**

Chapter 12: Mt. Horn

We emerged on a narrow cliff ridge. The sea was gone, and the only thing I could see was the bright blue sky, a Kangaskhan Rock, and a huge mountain ahead of us.

"Good job, guys," I said. "We've come a long way."

"Yeah. We should be almost there! Maybe if we cross the mountain… According to the Wonder Map, it's called Mt. Horn," Jade said, taking the map out of our bag and examining it closely.

"Yup! We're almost there!" Bidoof said, examining our Wonder Map.

He pointed to the cloudy area again. "Just one more dungeon!"

Jade and I began to shift around items in the Kangaskhan Storage. We deposited some Plain Seeds that used to be Reviver Seeds and withdrew some more Oran Berries.

"Alright, so we're gonna need to hurry up a bit on this one; everyone else may already be expecting us. So let's go!" Jade said.

_ Man, she's starting to become a real good explorer… She doesn't let much get in her way… _I thought.

After we recuperated at the "checkpoint", we looked toward the mountain ahead of us.

_Can't go around it… Can't go under it… We can only go over it._

Mt. Horn was a very challenging dungeon. There were many Flying types, and even worse, Natus, who were Flying AND Psychic type. Force Palm barely did any damage to Natus. Because of this disadvantage, we had to use three Reviver Seeds.

There was also a multitude of Bug type Pokémon. While they weren't strong against me, they were resistant to Force Palm. That was not cool.

"God, is it just me, or is our bag lighter? We've used so many Oran Berries…" I moaned at one point.

"Yeah, yeah, shut your trap and keep moving," Jade ordered.

"Why are you so sassy?" I muttered.

"It's my nature. Just because we're partners doesn't mean that we have to be all chummy," Jade said, puffing up her chest.

"Good point…"

We didn't really talk much for the rest of the trip up the mountain. Dungeon exploring seemed to put a hamper on conversation.

After a while we reached the summit of the mountain. The dungeon continued down the rest of the mountain.

"And now we're going to have to hike all the way back down. Oh, joy," Jade sighed.

"This is gonna be fun… More Natus and Venomoths…"

"Don't think negative, guys," Bidoof encouraged.

I looked at Jade and Bidoof. "You're right, guys," I said.

We continued down the mountain, wading through dozens of Pokémon. I had to use one more Reviver Seed, which brought our Reviver Seed total down to four.

On the tenth floor, we found a sort of CD on the ground. It was brown in color and had a label that said **Focus Punch **in big, bold letters.

"What's this?" I asked.

"That? By golly, that's a TM!" Bidoof said.

"A TM?" I asked.

"A TM is kind of like a portable move. If you are compatible with it, you can learn a new move!" Jade said.

I was confused for a moment, but then I remembered how I had suddenly used Force Palm. Could that be what Jade meant by "learn a new move"?

"Hmm… Focus Punch… I like that name. Let's keep it around as a souvenir," I said. I unbuttoned a side pocket in my bag and put the TM in.

After another eternity and a half, we finally reached the bottom of the mountain. Ahead of us was a well-worn path and a few wisps of fog. The further down the path we got, the foggier it got.

"We must be getting close to Foggy Forest," I said.

"Yeah," Jade said.

We walked in silence for a while until eventually we saw a black smudge against the fog.

Jade tensed. "That could be an enemy."

"Ugh, not another enemy…" I said.

We slowly walked toward the figure until we could make the figure out. It was a multicolor bird with a pinkish beak and a long black tail. It was Chatot.

"Hey, Chatot," I said.

Chatot looked annoyed. "About time! We've been here for ages! Everyone else got here hours ago," he huffed.

"It's not our fault!" Jade complained.

"Whatever. It's getting late. You guys should go to one of those tents. We'll review what to do tomorrow," Chatot said.

"Okay, yup, yup," Bidoof said. He turned to us. "Thanks for taking me on an adventure," he said.

"No—" But something stopped me.

It came completely out of nowhere. Suddenly I was overtaken with a very strange feeling.

_ Hmm… This is a weird feeling… I wonder what it means…_ I blinked, and suddenly it dawned on me. _I know this place!_

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Jade. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Um… yeah… I guess… It's just… I feel like I've been here before…" I was still thinking about that weird feeling I had.

"That's weird…" Jade said.

Chatot pointed us to our tent and said that we had a little downtime before it was time to go to bed. Since we didn't have anywhere to go, we just explored our foggy campsite and conversed with our fellow apprentices.

"Hey, Emile! Look over here!" Eventually Jade called me over to the entrance of our campsite.

I hurried over. "What is it?"

Jade was hunched over, examining something in the grass. I peered into the grass and saw a small red stone.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Jade said.

"It is," I said.

Jade touched it curiously. "It's kind of warm!" She picked up the stone and handed it to me. I took it from her and found it was warm to the touch.

"You're right," I said.

I handed it back to Jade. "Maybe, when we get back to Treasure Town, we can sell it to the Kecleon brothers! We'll make a butt-ton of money."

She unbuttoned a side pocket of my Treasure Bag and put the warm rock in. The bag almost instantly warmed up.

"Everybody! Time to turn in for the night!" Chatot announced. "Tomorrow we'll continue our exploring! Good work today!"

Jade stifled a yawn. "Okay…"

We made our way back to our tent, collapsing on our beds of straw.

"What a day…" Jade yawned.

"And we still have to work tomorrow," I reminded her.

"Yeah. We should go to sleep now."

"Okay. Good night." I was so tired from our journey through Craggy Coast and Mt. Horn that I almost instantly fell asleep.

XxX

**I have a question to ask you: how do you think Pokemon use TMs? Emile is (spoilers!) gonna learn Focus Punch and another move via a TM, and so I wondered how to play out the whole "learning moves with a TM" thing when it comes. If you have an answer to that question, feel free to post it in the review section. Thanks for reading. :)**


	14. Chapter 13: Foggy Forest

**"The weather has become Fog!"  
"The weather has become Fog!"**  
**"The weather has become Fog!"**

**Am I the only one who gets annoyed by all that fog?**

**Speaking of fog, here we have Chapter 13: Foggy Forest. Enjoy.**

Chapter 13: Foggy Forest

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared.

I sat up in bed. It could've been any other day at the guild, but we weren't at the guild. We were on an expedition to find the secret of Fogbound Lake.

Jade sat straight up in bed. Ever since we got picked for the expedition, Jade seemed more energetic than usual.

"Good morning, Emile! Let's go discover some things!" she said.

"Okay," I said.

We walked out of our giant pink Wigglytuff tents to find everyone else already assembled. Chatot was at the front of the assembly.

"Okay! Let's all get up to speed on what's expected of you today…" Chatot said.

He glanced around at everyone. "As you all can see, the fog here is very thick. You can barely see your hand in front of your face! But I don't what that to hamper you from exploring. I want you all to split up and investigate the forest. If you find anything noteworthy, alert the Guildmaster or myself. Understood?"

"Understood," everyone repeated.

"We have two objectives here: first, to find the lake. But all of this fog will surely make finding the lake all the more difficult. So we may have to find a way to lift the fog. Understood?" Chatot said.

"Understood," we confirmed.

"Good! Now you are dismissed. Don't shirk work." And with that, the assembly broke up.

Chimecho slowly approached us. "Hey, guys. I've heard a little something about Fogbound Lake that I think you ought to know," she said.

Jade and I were silent, waiting for Chimecho to continue.

"Okay. Keep in mind that this is only a legend, so this may or may not be true…" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chatot, who had ceased his conversation with Wigglytuff. He was now turned to us, and he appeared to be listening to what Chimecho was saying.

"So, apparently, there is a legend about a Pokémon that guards Fogbound Lake. Anyone who pokes around at the lake will eventually run into this Pokémon. Then… Then they'll lock eyes, and the Pokémon will erase their memories! Freaky, huh?" Chimecho said.

"What's that Pokémon's name?" Jade asked.

"I think it's Uxie or something like that," Chimecho replied.

Chatot approached us. "Ahem. If I must say something, rumors and legends like that are often tied to mysterious places like here. They are most likely not true. Don't worry about something like that," he said calmly.

"Okay. Thank you," Jade said.

But, quite honestly, I didn't hear much about the conversation. As soon as Chimecho mentioned that Uxie could supposedly erase your memories, I had been in my own world.

_ That feeling earlier… How I felt that I know this place… And if the rumors are true… Uxie can erase memories… Is it possible that I came here and got my memories erased? _I thought. _Well, it's possible… Maybe I can get some clues about who I was before I turned into a Riolu if we find Uxie…_

"Okay! So, get going you three!" Chatot chided, snapping me out of my own world.

"Okay," I said.

Chatot and Chimecho smiled and left us to our own accords.

"Hey, Jade…" I said, turning to the Chikorita.

I explained my theory about Uxie and my strange feeling that I knew this place. Jade listened with rapt attention.

"So you're saying that we should go looking for a Pokémon that may erase our memories? No thanks," Jade said.

"It's fine if you don't want to do this. Trust me; I don't want to lose my memory. Again," I said lightheartedly.

Jade chuckled. "No, I'll go. After all, stupid Riolu, you're the leader of Team Aura."

I grinned. "Alright. So let's do some exploring."

We took one last look at our camp and walked into the thick fog ahead of us.

In a matter of seconds the camp was completely lost in the fog.

"Man, it's really foggy…" I said.

"You got that—Look out!" Jade began. Something emerged from the fog and walked up to me.

I'll admit: I panicked. I screamed and flailed about until I realized that the "something" in front of me was a Zigzagoon. I defeated it easily.

"Don't freak out next time," Jade said.

"Sorry! It's just hard to see anything in this fog," I said.

It was very difficult to navigate through Foggy Forest. Pokémon popped up with no warning. Trees materialized in front of me from out of nowhere. One time I even ran into one.

"Man, you are such an idiot," Jade teased.

"Shut up," I grumbled.

The stairs were impossible to find. It was like trying to find a grain of rice in a pail of sand. And of course, when I did find the stairs, I trip on them. Fantastic.

After spending forever stumbling through Foggy Forest, we emerged in a clearing. The clearing was a very odd place indeed, with pools of water here and there. Waterfalls that seemed to come from nowhere poured down into some of the pools of water. It was also noticeably less foggy here.

In between two waterfalls was a crumbling statue that looked like a sort of dinosaur. I took a wild guess: it must be a statue of a Pokémon.

"Whoa. This is a weird place," Jade said.

"It sure is…" I said, looking at the statue.

"Didn't Chatot say to report to him or Wigglytuff if we found something interesting?" Jade asked.

I groaned. "Yeah, but I don't want to go back through that forest again."

"Too bad, because it looks like we have to," Jade said.

I turned around and looked back at the wall of fog, dreading going back in there. But as it turned out, we didn't have to.

"Hey, hey! Team Aura!" It was Corphish. He emerged from the fog and approached us. "Did you find the lake?"

"Not really, but we did find this weird statue…" I said.

"Hey, hey! That's cool," Corphish said.

We approached the statue. "So, do you know what Pokémon this is?" I asked.

Corphish examined all sides of the statue. "Hey… Hey… No way! This can't be—! No! It is!" he muttered to himself.

"Well? Do you know what it is?" I asked.

"Yeah… It's a statue of a Pokémon called Groudon…" Corphish said nervously. He gulped and looked around quickly, as if he expected Groudon to come to life.

"Groudon?" I repeated.

"Groudon is a legendary Pokémon said to be able to expand continents," Corphish said.

"It sure looks mean," I said, noticing its sharp claws.

"That's not the only thing I found. Look at this," Corphish said. He walked over to the right side of the statue. Jade and I followed him.

"Alright, you can barely see it, but…" Corphish broke off and gestured to the pedestal of the statue.

There was something engraved in the pedestal, but I couldn't read it. It was in a series of symbols that made no sense to me.

"Oh! Those are footprint runes, aren't they?" Jade exclaimed.

"Footprint runes?" I asked.

"Arceus, you are so thick sometimes," Jade sighed.

"Can you read them?" I asked.

"Yeah, just give me a sec…" Jade said. She then stared intently at the runes, mumbling to herself. "Re… something… Recoded? No, reignite… the… light…? No, life…"

After a minute of waiting for Jade to decipher the runes, she finally looked up triumphantly.

"I've got it!" she said.

"What does it say, hey, hey?" Corphish asked.

"It says… 'Reignite the life that burned within Groudon… Then the sky shall blaze with the sun's heat… The path to treasure shall be revealed,'" she said.

"Hey, hey, hey! 'Path to treasure'? Sounds cool, hey, hey!" Corphish said.

"Yeah, but… Those words are confusing as heck… 'Reignite the life'… 'Sky shall blaze with the sun's heat'… GAH! It's making my head hurt!" Jade said, clutching her head.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We're bound to discover the secret somehow…" I motivated.

Jade looked up at me. "Oh my gosh! I have an idea!" Jade got close and whispered in my ear, "Try touching the statue."

"Touch the statue? Wha—oh. Okay," I said.

_ Maybe it will activate my dizzy spells… Then we'll have a clue about what to do…_ I approached the statue. _Alright, here goes nothing!_ I raised my furry black paw and placed it firmly on the statue.

Almost instantly I began to feel dizzy. I swayed back and forth but kept my hand on the statue. _It's working…_

My vision went black. But this time, unlike my previous dizzy spells, it stayed black.

"That's it! It's here! It's here!" a voice called. And then everything came back into focus.

_ That was a short dream…_ I thought. But then I realized something.

_ That voice… It sounds so… familiar… Could that be…!_ But before I had time to think about it more, another dizzy spell suddenly overtook me.

_ What? Another vision?_ I thought.

Everything went black again. I heard some footsteps and some excited mumbling.

"I see! Place the Drought Stone in Groudon's heart. That lifts the fog! Very well done! Good job, partner!" This time, the speaker sounded different, but it still sounded very familiar to me.

My vision evaporated, leaving me staring at the Groudon statue.

"So? Did you find anything?" Jade asked.

"Yeah. Some voices were talking, and one of them said something like, 'Place the Drought Stone in Groudon's heart, and that will lift the fog…'" I reported.

"The Drought Stone…" Jade muttered. "Why do I feel like I should know what that is?"

I smiled and opened a side packet in our Treasure Bag. I carefully took out the only thing in that pocket: a red rock that glowed with heat.

"Does this look familiar?" I asked, holding it up.

Jade looked up. "Oh yeah! That's the Drought Stone! I knew that," Jade put in quickly.

_ Sure you did,_ I thought.

"But… Where's Groudon's 'heart'?" Jade asked.

"Hey, hey. While I was looking at the statue, I saw this…" Corphish said. He turned to the front of the statue. "Check this out."

We followed him to the front of the statue. "Look at this. It's an indent in the statue's chest! Could this be his heart?" Corphish said, gesturing to a small hole in the chest of the Groudon. It was relatively large, big enough to fit the stone I held in my hands.

"It's worth a shot," I said.

"Okay. Put the stone in that indent," Jade instructed.

"Quiet. I've got this," I said.

I looked at the stone in my hands and stood on the tips of my toes to reach the indent. I set the stone in place in the indent. A small click told me that the stone could not be reclaimed.

The statue's eyes began to glow.

"Hey, hey! Something's happening!" Corphish exclaimed.

We all backed up from the Groudon just as it began to glow. It became too bright to look at, and so I squeezed my eyes tight. But when I opened my eyes…

All the fog was gone. The sun was shining brightly overhead. Foggy Forest didn't seem so eerie.

"Whoa! That's amazing!" Jade exclaimed.

"Wow," I breathed, staring up at the cloudless sky.

What were we all looking at? We were looking up to see the source of the two waterfalls.

The waterfalls were pouring from a huge goblet-shaped hunk of rock. The rock was overflowing with water that spilled over the sides, forming the waterfalls.

"Is that…?" I asked, awestruck.

"Fogbound Lake…" Jade confirmed.

"Hey, hey! This is wonderful! I must go alert the guild members…" Corphish said. He then bounded off into Not-So-Foggy Forest, eager as a beaver.

"Yay! So now finding that treasure will be easier!" Jade said.

"Did you say… treasure?" I heard the last voice I expected to hear in a place like this.

Team Skull had arrived. Koffing, Zubat, and Skuntank emerged from behind a waterfall. Jade growled.

"You guys… Why are you here?" Jade said in deceptive calmness.

"We're here to find some treasure! We're here to prove that we're better than any old Riolu and Chikorita!" Skuntank chawed.

"Well guess what? You are NOT gonna just waltz in here and take credit for our work. Again!" Jade spat.

"Whoa-ho-ho! As I recall, the last time we crossed swords, you guys got knocked out by our Noxious Special Gas Combo," Koffing said.

"That smelled pretty bad, didn't it? What if we were to do it AGAIN?!" Skuntank sneered.

"Yeah. So we're gonna have to get rid of you for now. We can't have you trying to get in our criminal lifestyles." Zubat said.

Jade gulped. "Brace yourself," she whispered.

"So, do you have any last words?" Skuntank leered.

I sighed. Jade cursed.

"I'll take that as a no. Now… Prepare to face… KOFFING AND SKUNTANK'S NOXI—"

But before they could finish us off, Koffing and Skuntank were interrupted.

"NO! WAIT FOR ME, PERFECT APPLE!" I turned around and was surprised to see a red apple rolling up to us. It came to a rest in front of a flabbergasted Skuntank.

The apple was followed by Wigglytuff, who was running, out of breath, trying to catch up to the apple.

He squeezed by us and ran right up to Skuntank. He picked up the apple, grinning broadly.

"Guildmaster—" Skuntank began.

"Why, hello there, friendly friends!" Wigglytuff said, looking up.

"Er… Hello, Guildmaster…" Skuntank said awkwardly.

He looked at his comrades, and I could tell what they were thinking: they wanted to get rid of Wigglytuff.

_ I don't think so,_ I thought. _This pink ball of fluff is our Guildmaster. If you try to mess with him, you'll hear from us. That is, if Wigglytuff doesn't destroy you first… _I smiled. _This is quite the entertaining expedition…_

"What are you doing here?" Zubat questioned.

"Well, my Perfect Apple ran from me, and I chased it here! And now… Now I've noticed that the fog is lifted!" Wigglytuff said.

"Er… That's great," Skuntank said stiffly.

"So! You guys should get going! There's exploring to be done!"

"Say, Guildmaster—" Skuntank began.

But Wigglytuff was suddenly busy bouncing his Perfect Apple on his head.

"Now get going! Find the secret of this mysterious lake!" Wigglytuff shooed us away.

Jade and I walked around the base of the large rock formation, looking for anything to investigate. Nothing really caught my eye at first, but I looked around the rock a second time and found a crack in the rock. A Kangaskhan Rock stood right next to the crack.

"Hey Jade. Check this out," I called.

Jade walked up to the crack. "Whoa! Could this be…?"

"The secret of Fogbound Lake," I confirmed.

XxX

**Abrupt ending is abrupt. Yeah...  
**


	15. Chapter 14: Steam Cave

**Goodbye fog, hello steam.**

Chapter 14: Steam Cave

Before we entered the cave, we stopped at a Kangaskhan Rock to replenish our items. I had the feeling that we'd need as many items as we could get…

My mind was still ringing from my two dizzy spells. _It's so weird… I had two spells in a row… And those voices… Why do they sound so… familiar…?_

"Alright. Are we ready?" Jade asked.

"I suppose so," I said.

"Okay." And we stepped into the cave.

Almost as soon as we set foot in the cave, Jade began to complain about the heat. I'll admit: it was pretty stuffy in there. Jade sounded like she could hardly breathe.

"Do we really have to do this?" Jade complained.

"Yes we do," I said.

"Awwwww…" Jade moaned.

"Do you want to get some treasure?" I said.

"Um, yeah…" Jade wheezed.

"Are you sure? You can go back to base camp if you want," I said.

"No. I'm fine. Let's go," Jade said, straightening up.

I took a deep breath and continued into the cave.

The cave was full of Fire types and the occasional Bug type. Slugmas, Magbys, and Kricketunes swarmed up to us. Jade had a lot of trouble dealing with all of the enemies.

At one point, a Numel attacked Jade with some embers. Jade cringed in pain, cursed, and tackled the Numel. The Numel barely survived the attack, but I quickly finished it off with Bite. The Numb Pokémon went down.

Jade was frantically tapping my shoulder. "Emile, look in the Treasure Bag. Quick," she said.

"Why? What should I look for?" I questioned.

"A Rawst Berry. That stupid Numel burned me. A Rawst Berry will heal it," Jade said, panic-stricken.

Sure enough, when I looked at her, I saw a small flame on Jade's leaf on her head. It was slowly growing larger.

"Okay," I said, unbuttoning my Treasure Bag.

I dug around in it._ Let's see…An Oran Berry… a Plain Seed… An apple… a Heal Seed—! Will this work?_ I thought, shuffling around my items.

I took the Heal Seed out of my bag. "Will this work?"

Jade looked reverently at the seed. "Oh! Thank you, Emile! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Anytime," I said.

"So, let's get going," Jade said through a mouthful of seed. She quickly finished eating the Heal Seed and looked forward into the dungeon. "After all, there's science to be done."

We forged through the dungeon, knocking down enemy after enemy. Jade seemed to be completely recovered from her burn. None of us got burned again, which was lucky, because we didn't have any more Heal Seeds or Rawst Berries.

Jade got more fierce as we went through the dungeon. She was getting more resistant to Fire type attacks, and I noticed that I was too. Fire attacks almost bounced off of me. And even though it hurt to attack Slugmas, the enemies were really weak. They'd go down with only one or two attacks.

Eventually we reached a small room with a Kangaskhan Rock and no enemies. The room was still devilishly hot and stuffy, but I felt relaxed. Jade's wheezy breathing slowed as well.

"Whew… We've come a long way," Jade panted.

"Yeah, no kidding. But we should still keep an eye out for trouble. Who knows what's ahead?"

Almost as if on cue, a quiet growl sounded from the cavern ahead of us.

Jade tensed. "What was that?" she whispered.

"Beats me…" I whispered back.

Jade looked around. "Okay… We'll have to proceed with caution. Let's get going…"

We walked into the cave ahead of us after recuperating in the rest room.

The rest of Steam Cave was actually easy. It was really hot, and with every floor, it seemed to get hotter. Before long Jade was panting again.

"Oof… Ugh… How… many… more… floors…" she breathed.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we're almost out of here…" I said.

"And… What was that… roar that we heard… earlier?" Jade said.

"Hopefully we won't have to run into whatever that was," I said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the stairs leading up. "Look! There are the stairs." Jade instantly perked up.

"Yay!" Jade cheered. She stumbled to the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her. "C'mon, Emile! Hurry up!" she said.

_ Mother of all mood swings… First she's tired, and now she's hyper… Well, as long as she's not complaining about the heat…_

I walked over to the stairs. But then, for whatever reason, I was suddenly scared to go up the stairs.

_ Oh no. There's something up there…_ I thought.

"What are you staring at? Let's get out of here!" Jade said cheerfully.

"Um… Okay… But let's be careful," I said slowly.

I took a deep breath and led Jade up the stairs.

We emerged in a room that didn't seem as stuffy as the rest of the dungeon. This room was similar to the waypoint we had encountered in the middle of the dungeon. It was a plain room with no enemies. But this room didn't have a Kangaskhan Rock. There was a path leading forward, and that path appeared to be the only way out.

"What were you all worried about, Emile? There's nothing here," Jade said.

Yeah… She shouldn't have done that.

_ ROAR!_ An earsplitting roar resounded.

"What was that?" Jade panicked.

_ BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_ Three loud booms shook dust from the ceiling.

"That? That sounded like… Footsteps!" I said.

"Oh no…" Jade moaned.

"We have to stay strong. We can't chicken out now," I said, placing a reassuring hand on Jade's shoulder.

Jade wheezed. "You're right. We have to stay strong…" Jade held her head higher.

There was another roar. This one seemed much louder that the last one.

_ BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! _Three more booms shook the cavern. Then a figure emerged.

"Oh…" I squeaked.

I was scared. Truly scared.

For in front of us was a large red dinosaur thing with sharp claws and evil looking eyes.

Then I realized…

_ No way! This is the Pokémon the statue outside depicts! This is…_

Groudon.

"GROOOOOOOOOO! I AM GROUDON, THE GUARDIAN OF FOGBOUND LAKE! ARE YOU AN EXPLORATION TEAM?!" Groudon roared.

"Eep! Um… Uhhh… We… are… T-Team Aura! And we… Eek!" Jade squeaked.

"NO ONE TRESPASSES ON THIS LAND AND LIVES!" Groudon roared.

"B-but… We just—"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES! YOU HAVE COME TO LAY WASTE TO FOGBOUND LAKE! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE HERE ALIVE!" Groudon spat in outrage.

Groudon advanced on us, arms outstretched. His sharp claws seemed to get sharper.

"Here he comes!" Jade warned.

"YOU WILL FACE MY WRATH! PREPARE TO BE DEFEATED! GROOOOOOOOOO!" Groudon said.

And the battle began.

I noticed that it seemed to get hotter once Groudon stepped forward.

_ That's just the thing we need… Jade to complain about the heat again…_ I thought.

Jade began the battle by firing a leaf at Groudon. I thought it was just a futile attempt to harm the beast, but Groudon seemed severely hurt by it.

Groudon stepped forward until he was right in front of me. He looked down at me, and I felt like a tiny bug about to be squashed.

I shook the scared bug feeling and hit him hard with Force Palm. Groudon roared in outrage.

_ Man. For such a threatening creature, he sure gets hurt easily,_ I thought.

That was a premature thought. Groudon lunged forward with his claws, raking me across my chest. I screamed in pain, clutching my chest. I held my paw up to my face and found it was stained red. Blood red.

In retaliation, Jade fired another leaf at the Groudon. It stumbled back, momentarily stunned.

"Thanks!" I yelled at Jade.

Jade winked. "No problem," she called back.

Groudon grunted and turned on me again. I wasted no time and used Force Palm before the monster could regain his bearings.

But Groudon groaned and glared at me. He wasn't finished yet.

Groudon conjured up a pile of strange mud. He clutched it in his hands and threw it at me. The mud caught me in the chest.

Mud splashed all over me, getting in my eyes and wounds and splattering my blue fur. The impact knocked me down on my back.

_ I have to get an Oran Berry before Groudon finishes me,_ I thought frantically. I clawed at my Treasure Bag, trying to open it. But I couldn't. My hands were trembling too much.

_ This is it…_ I thought.

Groudon raised his arm and was just about to bring it down on me when a flash of green streaked by. The green flash caught Groudon in the side and made him collapse.

I unsteadily got up. "Oof… Did we… Did we win?" I muttered.

"Emile…! You're hurt!" Jade said, which was pretty obvious.

She grabbed my bag and began to sift through it. She brought out an Oran Berry.

I quickly ate up the berry and watched my wounds disappear like magic.

Thanked Jade and looked around. The little room seemed to be just the same as it was before Groudon came in. Groudon was still lying motionless on the ground, wounded from our battle.

But then something weird happened. Groudon suddenly began to shine like the statue of it outside. The light got too bright to look at, and I closed my eyes. Then the light vanished.

I opened my eyes, and… Groudon was gone.

Jade gasped. "What happened? He just… vanished!"

"Perhaps you should ask me." The voice emanated from nowhere. I looked around frantically for the speaker.

_ Oh no… I hope that's not another boss…_ I thought.

"Who are you? Heck, where are you? And where did Groudon go?" I called.

"Groudon… That was not Groudon," the voice said.

"What? What do you mean?" Jade said.

"That Groudon was… No. I shall not tell you. All you need to know is that I am the true guardian of Fogbound Lake. And I cannot allow you to pass," the mysterious voice said.

"B-but… We just want to—" Jade started.

"We just want to find some information," I said, finishing Jade's sentence.

The voice was silent, completely at a loss for words.

"Information?" the voice repeated.

"Well… It sure would be nice if we could find some treasure at Fogbound Lake…" Jade admitted.

"…Hmm…" the voice mused.

"Please?" Jade begged.

"…Okay. I'll trust you," the voice said finally.

A yellow light appeared in front of us. The light expanded and gradually grew into a strange hovering shape. Then the light subsided.

The thing in front of us was very small and fairy-like. Its body was a light blue with a round yellow head. It had two "tails" and a red jewel on its head. Its eyes were closed.

Jade stumbled back. "W-who are you?" she stuttered.

"I am Uxie, guardian of Fogbound Lake," the fairy said.

I gasped. "Uxie?!"

"Yes. I am Uxie, and I guard this lake," Uxie said.

"Guard it? What do you guard?" I asked.

"It would be easier to show you." Uxie floated up to the path ahead of us. "Well? Are you coming?"

"Sure…" Jade said numbly.

Uxie floated up the path ahead. We had no choice to follow him.

XxX

**GROOOOODON. HE USES ALL CAPS. (In-joke.)**


	16. Chapter 15: Time Gear

**FOGBOUND LAKE!**

Chapter 15: Time Gear

We followed him up the path and emerged into bright moonlight. I was quite surprised to find that it was night already. I was even more surprised to look at where we were.

We were on the side of a massive lake that shone brightly in the moonlight. Some brushy plants lined the lake. Multicolored lights flittered about over the deep blue water. I could see something greenish sparkling in the middle of the lake.

"Behold! Fogbound Lake!" Uxie said grandly.

"Whoa," Jade breathed.

I was speechless. All I could do was take in the magnificent view.

"Yes. This is Fogbound Lake. It was formed by water pooling up from belowground. It eventually pooled up enough to form this lake. It's quite beautiful, is it not?" Uxie said.

"It is pretty… Too bad we almost got murdered by that Groudon back there," Jade said. "Oh, by the way, do you know why Groudon just vanished like that?" she asked.

"Right… I should explain. So, I can create super realistic illusions using my psychic powers. That Groudon was an illusion created by me to ward off any explorers who get too close," Uxie explained.

He looked to the left of us, and for a second, I thought I saw his body glow. A second later, a life-sized, flickering projection of a Groudon appeared.

We stepped back. I knew it was just an illusion, but that didn't stop me from jumping every time I saw that evil red dinosaur.

"Waaah! That's Groudon!" Jade gasped.

"That's just an illusion that is realistic enough to scare off most anyone who comes here. And if they get past that…" Uxie said.

Suddenly Jade sat up. "Oh! That reminds me!"

"Wha—?" I said, tearing my eyes away from the flickering Groudon.

"You being a human!" Jade hissed in my ear.

"Oh… Yeah. Jade, why don't you explain?" I said.

"Sure. Uxie, meet my partner, Emile! He may look like a normal old Riolu to you, but he's actually a human that has turned into a Pokémon! Weird, huh?" she said.

Uxie studied me curiously. "He's a human, you say?" he asked.

"Yep. He said that somehow he turned into a Pokémon and lost all his memories. And he said that he feels like he's been here before. So do you remember seeing a human here? And if you did…" Jade broke off.

Uxie paused for a moment. "No. I don't remember ever seeing a human around here." It sounded like there was something he wasn't telling me, though.

"But… Is it true that you can erase memories?" Jade asked cautiously.

"Yes. I can erase memories, but only memories of Fogbound Lake. It's a really useful skill. I use it to protect the treasure I have here," Uxie said.

"Treasure? Ooh! See, we're on an expedition to find treasure! That's why we came here! So do you have any treasure?" Jade piped up.

Uxie paused again. "It's true I have treasure here. But it's probably not the kind of treasure you are thinking of."

"Well, what is it?" Jade asked excitedly.

"Look to the center of the lake," Uxie instructed.

I craned my neck to the center of the lake. And then I saw it.

Submerged underwater, surrounded by a greenish glow, was a green gear.

As soon as I laid my eyes on that gear, my heart began to race.

_ Whoa! Why is my heart suddenly pounding so hard? I feel like I've just run a mile! What the heck…_ I thought.

"What IS that?" Jade asked.

"That… is a Time Gear," Uxie said.

A Time Gear, huh? Why is this making me feel so… thrilled?

"Oh! There's a Time Gear here?" Jade exclaimed.

"Yes. That is the treasure of Fogbound Lake," Uxie said.

"Aw! That's too bad! We can't take a Time Gear!" The childish voice rang out from behind me. I turned around and saw everyone's favorite pink bunny bouncing up.

"Hello, friends! Looks like you found the secret of the lake!" Wigglytuff said, looking out at the beautiful lake.

Uxie turned to us. "And… This is…?"

"It's Wigglytuff. Our Guildmaster," I said quickly.

Wigglytuff bounced up to Uxie. "Glad to meet you, friend! Friend! Friend! Friend!" he said.

"Um… Hey there, er… friend," Uxie said uncomfortably.

Wigglytuff then skipped over to the flickering projection of Groudon.

"Glad to greet you, friend! Friend! Amazing! Friend!" he said to it.

Jade and I couldn't help it. We giggled a little. Even Uxie smiled a little bit. Just having Wigglytuff walk up to the illusionary Groudon and call it "friend" can really brighten up your day.

_ Oh, Wigglytuff. You're so… Indescribable,_ I thought.

Wigglytuff walked up to the lake. "Now! Behold this amazing view!" he said grandly.

"It's so pretty," I agreed.

"I'm so glad we came… La tee da… La tee da tee da…" Wigglytuff sang, slightly bouncing up and down.

"Guildmaster!" I turned around and saw all of the other apprentices rushing up to greet us. Everyone seemed pretty beat up, but their faces were bright and smiling.

I did notice that there was someone missing from the ensemble. Team Skull was nowhere to be seen.

Where are they? I wondered. Then I smiled. Whatever. After all the trouble they put us through, I could care less.

We rushed forward to meet the other apprentices. They all panicked slightly when they saw Uxie's Groudon illusion, but we assured them that there was nothing to worry about.

"Hello, Guildmaster," Chatot said.

"Oh, never mind me! Look! It's spouting! Pretty! Pretty!" Wigglytuff said, turning to the lake.

"What do you—?" Then I looked up to the lake.

In the center of the lake, right where the Time Gear was, a huge spout of multicolored water was rising up. It looked like a huge shining crystal had emerged in the middle of the lake. Many Volbeat and Illumise flitted around the geyser, their tail lights shining brightly.

Words failed me. I just stood there, taking in the beauty. Eventually, as if in a trance, I walked up to the edge of the water. Jade followed me.

We sat down and looked at the pretty sight. Jade set her hand on my hand and rested her head on my shoulder. I should've felt embarrassed, but I didn't. I felt peaceful. "Wow…" Jade whispered.

"Sometimes the lake spouts up water to form a geyser. The Time Gear gives it that luminous look, and all the Volbeat and Illumise make the scene all the more beautiful," Uxie explained.

But Uxie's words just sounded like a faint buzzing noise in my ears. Now, sitting there with Jade, it felt like the whole world had been reduced to two Pokémon: Jade and I. I felt invincible, care-free, immortal. It felt like Jade and I were on top of the world.

_ This is so pretty… Even if we didn't get treasure or find out who I was… I'm happy we came here…_ I thought. I shook my shaggy head_. Now, now. There's no time for thoughts like that. Just immerse yourself in the beauty…_

I don't know how long we sat there, but eventually Wigglytuff broke the silence.

"Okay, friendly friends! We're going back to the guild!" he said.

"HOORAY!" everyone chorused.

"I will not take your memories of this place. I have earned your trust. However, I do want you to keep this secret to yourself," Uxie said.

"Yay! Thank you, friend! And we won't tell a soul about this! We swear! We swear in the name of Wigglytuff's Guild!" Wigglytuff said.

I was certainly grateful that Uxie didn't want to erase our memories. But I had a feeling that even if Uxie did take my memories, I would never be able to forget the beautiful lake.

XxX

**Yeah. In case you haven't noticed, all these chapters are named after a soundtrack in the game. Most of the chapter names are pretty bland (Beach Cave! Drenched Bluff!) but as the story progresses the chapter names will become more vivid. Anyway, thanks for reading. And don't forget to review!**


	17. Chapter 16: Heartwarming

**I would really like to thank the few people that like and/or follow this story. I'm just a beginner and it really means a lot to me if you like my fics. And even if you don't like this story, I'm glad that you've taken the time out of your day to look at this fic. Thank you.**

**Anyway, here's another chapter. There's nothing really special about it. Enjoy.**

Chapter 16: Heartwarming

"UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared again.

"Ugh… It's been forever since we've heard that…" Jade said sleepily.

We went into the main room and did our cheer as usual. Then everyone went off to do their jobs.

"So it's back to our normal schedule, Emile. Let's work hard!" Jade said.

"That's the spirit! I always like to see hard working apprentices!" Chatot said.

"So we just do a job on the job boards?" I asked.

"That would be great," Chatot said.

"Okay! Let's—" I started. But then…

"DIGLETT?! WHY do you NOT KNOW THE FOOTPRINT?!" Loudred roared at Diglett.

"Um… I'm super sorry…! I… I just don't know who it is…" Diglett said. His voice was tiny and distant from the bottom of the Sentry Duty hole.

"Now, if it were EMILY over there, I could UNDERSTAND…" Loudred said.

I stalked over to Loudred. "My name is Emile. E-M-I-L-E. Just because my name sounds like girl's name doesn't give you the right to call me Emily," I huffed.

Loudred's face flushed with rage, but before he could say something else back at me, Diglett called up.

"What? You said your name was… Dusknoir?! The GREAT Dusknoir?!" he called.

All chatter in the guild stopped for a moment. Then the babble broke out again.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! THE great Dusknoir? Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed.

"I wonder if I can get his autograph!" Chimecho said.

"Meh-heh-heh… The great Dusknoir? What a pleasure," Croagunk chuckled.

"If you are the great Dusknoir, come on in!" Diglett said tremulously.

"Now, now, what's all this I hear about… the great Dusknoir?!" Chatot said over the talk. He flapped his wings frantically. "Squawk! The great Dusknoir! He's here?"

Everyone was going on and on about this "great Dusknoir", but I had no idea who he was. I could tell that I wasn't the only one who was confused. Jade looked pretty perplexed as well.

"Um, guys? Who… is this 'great Dusknoir'?" Jade asked cautiously.

Sunflora, Loudred, and Chimecho stared at Jade, their mouths agape.

"You don't know about the great Dusknoir?" Sunflora asked slowly.

"EVERYONE knows about the great Dusknoir!" Loudred said.

"He's a super powerful explorer! He travels solo as a testament to his strength!" Chimecho cried.

"He's ALSO very SMART! He's got more knowledge than a thousand year old ALAKAZAM!" Loudred said.

"He's even hotter than Edward!" Sunflora said dreamily.

"He's WHAT?" Jade gasped at Sunflora.

Sunflora smiled guiltily. "Um… How's the weather?" she said, looking away.

Before Jade could respond, a large, dark figure clambered down the ladder. It was mostly dark gray with a few yellow stripes on his arms. He had a large belly with two yellow dots and a squiggly line that looked like a mouth. It was Dusknoir.

As soon as he appeared, I felt strangely uneasy.

Hmm… Strange… It's almost as if…

"H-hello, great D-D-Dusknoir…!" Chatot stuttered.

"Hello, all." His voice was deep and chilling, and it sent a shiver down my spine. My stomach churned uneasily.

"Eeeeeeeeee! Great Dusknoir! I-I'm soooo honored!" Sunflora squealed.

"Can I have your autograph?" Chimecho asked.

"Now, now! Everyone, calm down!" Chatot ordered.

Wigglytuff walked up to Dusknoir. "Hello, friend! How's it going?" he said.

"Ah, Wigglytuff! I've heard all about you and your famous guild!" Dusknoir said.

"Does Wigglytuff know Dusknoir?" Jade asked.

"Nope. This is the first time we've seen him," Loudred said offhandedly. Clearly he was more interested in Dusknoir than us.

"Why is he being so friendly to him?" I said.

"You know Wigglytuff. He'd probably call anyone a friend," Loudred said.

"Everyone! Meet the famous Dusknoir!" Chatot said. "He will be temporarily staying in Treasure Town! However, try not to mob him and ask for autographs and information, okay? We need to be a good example for our guest!"

Dusknoir chuckled. "You guys are flattering me. It's fine if you want an autograph. I will be happy to oblige. But information… I'm afraid I have none. No one knows about everything"

"So what brings you down here?" Chatot asked.

"Oh, I just wanted to check in on you guys. I heard that you recently went on an expedition to Foggy Forest? How did that go?" he said.

"It was a failure. All we found there was trees and fog," Wigglytuff said.

At first I wondered why we just flat out lied to Dusknoir. But then I remembered the promise that we made to Uxie: we'd keep our mouths shut about the Time Gear at Fogbound Lake.

"Ah. We can't always succeed," Dusknoir said.

"So! Let's all be nice to our guest and work hard!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" we cheered.

We walked upstairs and picked out a few jobs on the job board. Once we completed an outlaw job, Magnemite gave us a Reviver Seed and a Big Apple.

The rest of the night passed with nothing really exciting going on. The closest thing to "interesting" happened the next day...

The next day, Chatot called us over after our cheer. "You two! I have a very important task for you."

"What's up?" I asked.

"I would like you to run to the Kecleon Shop and ask if they plan on stocking Perfect Apples. We have run out again, and you know what happens if the Guildmaster doesn't get his share of Perfect Apples…" Chatot broke off.

"That's all?" Jade grumbled.

"Shh!" I shushed.

"Yes. That's all," Chatot said.

"Alright. Be back in a jiffy," I said.

Jade and I made our way to Treasure Town to do our job. Everywhere we turned, Pokémon were talking all about the great Dusknoir.

"Man! Dusknoir must be really famous! Everyone's talking about him!" Jade said.

"Speaking of Dusknoir…" The Kecleon Shop was right in front of us. The two Kecleons were still there, but they had a customer.

Dusknoir was talking casually to the green Kecleon. The purple Kecleon was listening intently to the conversation and speaking up occasionally.

Dusknoir finished his conversation and turned to us, focusing his single red eye on us. "Ah! You two! Have I seen you before?" he said.

"Yeah. We're apprentices at the guild. I'm Emile, and she's Jade. And we're Team Aura!" I introduced.

"Hello, Dusknoir!" Jade said.

"Team Aura, eh? That's a fitting name for a Riolu," Dusknoir said.

"What are you doing? Business?" Jade asked.

"No. I'm just having a conversation with these two nice Pokémon," he said.

"That's cool," Jade said.

"The great Dusknoir is a very nice Pokémon! He has some fascinating stories to tell!" Kecleon said.

"So we have a question for you," I said, walking up to the green Kecleon. Dusknoir obligingly stepped out of our way.

"Yes?" Kecleon said.

"We were wondering if you guys are planning on stocking Perfect Apples," I said.

"Perfect Apples?" Kecleon turned to his purple counterpart and began to talk in hushed tones. After a moment, the green one looked to us.

"I'm quite sorry, but we do not plan on stocking Perfect Apples in the near future," he said.

"Oh, that's fine," I said.

"Wigglytuff will sure be disappointed to hear that," Jade said.

"Anyway, thanks! Now we'd better get going," I said.

"Azurill! Wait for me!" And suddenly Marill and Azurill were bounding up to us excitedly. The two blue Pokémon stopped in front of us, their faces full of glee.

"Hey, kiddos!" I said.

"Emile! Jade! Guess what? Do you know that item that we lost a while ago?" Marill said breathlessly.

"You found it?" I asked.

"Well, we've heard that it's by the beach! Isn't that cool?" Azurill said.

"So now we're gonna go get it!" Marill said.

I smiled and rubbed the two brother's heads affectionately. "Good for you!" I said.

"By the way, what's your special item called?" Jade asked.

"It's called a Water Float," Azurill said.

"My, my! A Water Float? That's a very rare item designed specifically for Azurill. You can only get it by trading many items over and over again," Dusknoir said.

"A Water Float? I've dealt with items for my whole life and I haven't heard of that! I fear that we will never sell such a rare item!" Kecleon said.

"It's super rare! That's why we're so desperate to find it!" Marill said.

"Yeah! So let's go! To the beach!" Azurill said. He scampered off, leaving Marill to follow behind.

"Those two are so cute," I said.

"No kidding. Anyway, we need to be going. We have to tell Chatot about the Perfect Apples. See you later, Dusknoir!" Jade said.

"Fare thee well," Dusknoir said with a wave of his large hand.

We walked up to the guild to report back to Chatot.

"Squawk! No Perfect Apples?" Chatot exclaimed.

"Yes… Sorry…" I said.

"What am I to do? I don't want Wigglytuff to… you know," Chatot said, pacing back and forth.

"We can go back to Apple Woods," I offered.

"WHAAAAAT?! Are you crazy?! After what happened last time?" he squawked.

"That wasn't our fault! I'm trying to tell you, Skuntank—" I started.

"…I'm sorry. It's just… What happened last time… That was simply too traumatic for me. I don't want that to happen again," Chatot said quietly.

Jade and I were silent.

"I'll go to Apple Woods myself. I won't mess up. As for you two, just do some jobs, okay?" Chatot said.

"Okay," I said.

Chatot nodded once and flew up the ladder.

We followed him and chose a couple of jobs off the Job Board. When we went to Treasure Town to prepare, Jade got sidetracked and insisted that we check on "Eggy-Poo" at the Chansey Day Care.

"I'm looking after your Egg! It's doing fabulously well!" Chansey said cheerfully.

"Is it close to hatching?" I asked.

"Huh? The Egg… Is it? Could it be? Is it close to hatching? Could it?! Will it?!" Chansey said, poking at our Egg in her pouch.

She looked up sadly and shook her head. "Hmm… Well… Not quite yet…" she said.

"Aww…" Jade complained.

"Give it some more time and it may hatch!" Chansey said.

"Sure thing. Thanks for looking after my Eggy-Poo!" Jade said.

We stopped by the Kecleon Shop and bought some items, stopped by the Kangaskhan Storage and deposited our items, got a quick drink at Spinda's Café and left for our jobs.

We took on an outlaw at Craggy Coast. The outlaw was a rather pretty Kirlia who teleported away from us the moment she saw us. But we eventually got her cornered.

Jade used an attack that I had never seen her use before: she fired a shining leaf that homed in on the Kirlia. The Kirlia grunted as the leaf hit her in the chest.

"Sweet! I know Magical Leaf now!" Jade said.

Ani-Chan giggled for no apparent reason.

I finished off the outlaw, and we all left the dungeon.

Our reward for catching the outlaw was a Joy Ribbon. Jade immediately snatched the yellowish ribbon away from me and tied it around her neck.

"It'll help in a dungeon: I'll get stronger every time I get hit with an attack," Jade explained. "You've got the Green Bow, so it should only be fair that I get a Joy Ribbon."

"Good point," I said, fluffing up my Green Bow.

After a little bit of downtime, Chimecho called us for dinner.

"Everyone! It's time for dinner!" she said.

"Hooray!" we cried. We all rushed into the mess hall where our plates were full of food. We were about to dig in when…

"STOP! I have an announcement!" Chatot yelled from the front of the table.

Everyone began to complain, and I had a sudden surge of déjà vu. The last time this happened was the night before the expedition.

"Ahem!" Chatot interjected. All the complaining stopped. "Now, we have just received word about this, and… I regret to inform you that… Another Time Gear was stolen!" he said.

"WHAT?!" we all chorused.

"Oh no!" Chimecho gasped.

"ANOTHER one?" Loudred roared.

"Hey, Chatot, was it the one at… Fogbound Lake?" Bidoof asked.

"AHEM!" Chatot cleared his throat again. "The Time Gear at Fogbound Lake… was not stolen. It is safe… for the moment. Who knows when and where the Time Gear thief will strike? However, I do think that the Time Gear there is well protected, so long as we keep our mouth shut about Fogbound Lake's secret. Understood?"

"Yeah!" we said.

"Good! That is all!" Almost as soon as the words left Chatot's beak, the room was filled with chatter and munching.

All everyone talked about was the Time Gear thief. Who could it be? Where was he now? Where could he strike next?

I was pretty surprised too. Another Time Gear was stolen? That's two Time Gears already! Didn't Jade say that there were five Time Gears in this region? That means… there are only three more Time Gears that are still in their place…

The rest of the night past in a blur. Before I knew it, Jade and I were in our room, sweating it out about the Time Gear and trying to go to sleep.

"Does anyone know about what'll happen if all the Time Gears are stolen?" I asked.

"I don't know what would happen... but I don't want to find out," Jade said.

After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to find sleep.

XxX

**Abrupt ending is abrupt again. :/**


	18. Chapter 17: Amp Plains

Chapter 17: Amp Plains

The next day started in the usual manner. Loudred woke us up, we cheered our daily cheer, and we were about to go do another job when Loudred called us over to the Sentry Duty hole.

"EMILE! JADE! You have VISITORS!" he said.

"Visitors? Who could be visiting us?" Jade questioned.

"And where are they?" I added.

"They're outside the guild," Loudred said.

Jade and I climbed up the ladder to the first sublevel, pausing only to grab a job. We climbed up the ladder once more and exited the guild to see who our visitors were.

Marill and Azurill were standing by the Sentry Duty grate, looking crestfallen. Marill had what looked like a note clutched in his hand.

"Hey, guys! Did you find your Water Float?" I asked.

"About that…" Marill said. The brother's sad expression told me all I needed to know.

"You couldn't find it?" Jade guessed.

"We went to the beach, but… it wasn't there," Azurill said.

"That stinks," I said.

"But we did find this," Marill said, handing us the note he was holding.

"We found a note in a bottle. According to the Krabby there, bottles with notes in them have been washing up on the shore a lot," Azurill said.

Jade scanned the note, her eyes slowly widening. Eventually she wordlessly handed me the note, her face red. As I read the note, I could see why she was so shocked.

_Dear Marill and Azurill,_

_The Water Float from the beach  
is now in our possession! Just try  
to take it from us! We'll wait in the  
deepest part of Amp Plains. But  
knowing how weak and puny you  
are, I bet you can't even reach us!  
Chaw-haw-haw! Can't handle it? Go  
cry to your big-shot friends! Chaw-  
haw-haw!_

"This note… It's a ransom note!" I exclaimed.

"And who do you know that says 'Chaw-haw-haw'?" Jade asked testily.

"That stupid Skuntank from Team Skull," I said.

"Grr… We'll get your Water Float back even if we have to endure Koffing and Skuntank's Gas Poison Special thing," Jade grumbled.

"Really? Thanks!" Marill said cheerfully.

Jade crumpled up the note and pitched it over the cliff. "Amp Plains… Why does that sound so familiar?" she mused.

I took out my Wonder Map and saw that there was a minute yellow dot right by a small forest. "Here it is," I said, showing Jade the map.

"Okay. We'll be back in a jiffy," Jade said.

We left to prepare in Treasure Town, Marill and Azurill smiling brightly.

Before long we were at Amp Plains with Ani-Chan and Kiwi. Kiwi seemed especially jumpy, probably because there were a ton of Electric types here. Kiwi was weak to Electric types.

As soon as we entered Amp Plains, a strange electric tingle spread over me, making me feel like I was being shocked. Poor Kiwi must've felt this tingle, as he began to freak out.

"Oof… L-let's make this s-s-snappy…" Kiwi stuttered.

"No promises," Jade said, not even bothering to look at the Doduo.

I noticed a Kangaskhan Rock to the left of our group. I walked over to it and switched around our items.

"Alright. I think we're ready," I said.

Kiwi gulped. "D-do you have a lot of R-R-Reviver S-Seeds?" he stuttered.

"Yes," I said offhandedly.

"Okay! Let's go! The sooner we get that Water Float back from those creeps the better," Jade said impatiently.

"Um… Jade?" I asked.

"Sorry. I'm just thinking out loud…" she muttered.

And without further ado, we entered the dungeon.

Just as Kiwi suspected, the dungeon was full of Electric types. The first Pokémon we met in the dungeon was a Mareep.

I didn't have much trouble with these Pokémon. Jade resisted pretty much every electric attack that was fired at her. Ani-Chan was the same. Kiwi, on the other hand, was a mess. He freaked out every time we were confronted with an electric Pokémon.

"Aieee! A Plusle!" Kiwi screamed at one point.

Plusle was a tiny Pokémon with red ears and small red cheeks. It didn't look threatening in the least.

"Relax, Kiwi. Old Emiliano has got this in the bag," I said.

I dispatched the Plusle with Force Palm. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Eep… I'm still pretty scared…" Kiwi said.

We just ignored him.

On the fourth floor, we were just exploring when suddenly…

_ Click._

A small click sounded from my feet.

"Um, what's…?" I trailed off, looking down. I saw that at my feet was a gray metal tile.

Jade looked up immediately. "Emile! Get off! That's a Warp Trap!" she said.

"A—" But before I had time to say anything else…

It was as if an invisible hand had picked me up. I flew to the ceiling, flailing about, and suddenly I was in a different place. Jade, Kiwi, and Ani-Chan were nowhere to be seen.

"JADE?" I called.

"E…e?" I could barely hear the voice. It was faint, but definitely Jade's voice.

"JADE?" I called again.

"…mil!" Jade yelled back.

"Just stay there! I'll come to you!" I yelled.

I wandered around, looking for the rest of Team Aura. I found (and defeated) several enemies, including an Elekid who wanted to join us.

"Hey dude. Are you the leader of Team Aura? Man, you're super popular around here. Would you mind if I join you?" he said.

"Yeah. Sure. You're a whole lot better than the scaredy-cat Doduo on our team now. You're hired," I said.

"Cool, man! Thanks!" the Elekid said.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"My name? It's Sparky," the Elekid said.

"Nice to meet you, Sparky," I said. "Now, we have to find the stairs, but we can't go up them yet. We have to wait for my other allies."

So Sparky and I trekked through the dungeon, looking for the stairs. Eventually we found them, but we didn't go up them yet. We still had to wait for Jade and Ani-Chan.

After what seemed like forever, I heard a distant voice. "Emile…? Do you… hear me?" It was Jade.

"I'm here!" I called back.

We waited for a little while longer, but soon Jade and Ani-Chan emerged from a nearby passageway.

"Emile! About dang time!" Jade said.

"Hey! Emile! Guess what? I killed a big, bad Elekid all by myself!" Ani-Chan said, her face full of glee.

"I take offense to that statement!" Sparky said indignantly.

"Everyone, meet our new team member: Sparky the Elekid," I introduced. Sparky smiled and vaguely muttered, "Hi."

"So THAT'S why Kiwi suddenly disappeared!" Jade said. "I was getting tired of him anyway."

"Yeah. So let's go," I said.

And with Sparky in tow, we walked up the stairs to the next floor.

Sparky turned out to be a very valuable team member. He was quite smart and knew a lot about the Electric types we were facing. His electric attacks weren't too effective on Electric type Pokémon, but luckily he knew Quick Attack and Low Kick, which helped a lot.

The Warp Trap wasn't the only trap that we found while traversing through the dungeon. One time I stepped on a trap with a Slowpoke head emblazoned on it. When I did, I suddenly found myself moving slow and sluggish.

"Oof… Why am I… so slow?" I asked. Even my voice was rather slow.

"That's a Slow Trap. It slows your movement speed and makes your reactions sluggish. Watch out for them," Jade said.

Almost as soon as she said that, I took a step forward and found myself able to move faster.

"It's only temporary," Jade added.

After the tenth floor, we broke into a waypoint with a Kangaskhan Rock. Amp Plains seemed to have changed; now the previously gray rocky walls were yellowish-brown. The strange electric tingle seemed to intensify, making the tips of my fingers go slightly numb.

"Are we all ready?" I asked after a moment of resting.

"Yep," Jade, Sparky, and Ani-Chan said.

Far Amp Plains housed many trickier Pokémon such as Flaaffy and Luxio. They were actually getting a few hits on us before they went down. One time an Electrike hit me with a rather weak electric charge, and I found myself paralyzed and unable to attack.

_ Grr… Stupid paralysis…_ I thought. _Hopefully this wears off soon…_

I did recover from paralysis relatively quickly, but not before the Electrike got in a few attacks. I dispatched the Lightning Pokémon a turn after that.

There were also traps. Tons of them. One time I stumbled on a Trip Trap and somehow dropped my Green Bow. I picked it up quickly and tied it back around my neck before any Pokémon could pick it up and use it for themselves.

Another time I stepped on a trap that released a strange scent. And before I knew it, we were being mobbed by practically every Pokémon on the floor.

Jade, Sparky, and Ani-Chan worked harder than ever. Jade's Grass type attacks got stronger as we progressed. Ani-Chan would use a deadly Stun Spore/Mega Drain combo and wreck the enemy. And Sparky was demonstrating many strong Electric attacks.

After stumbling through nine floors of traps and Electric types we reached what appeared to be the deepest part of Amp Plains. We were surrounded by rocks and a few leafless trees. Dry, bristly grass was at our feet. A rock jutted out of the ground, making a nice little hiding place.

Right in between some brittle trees was the only speck of light in this gray area. It was a small, shining ring with a small blue gem embedded in it.

"We've come pretty far… Man! This is a dangerous place," Jade said as lightning flashed in the gray sky above us.

"Look! There's something ahead!" Ani-Chan exclaimed, walking up to the shining ring.

"Could that be…? It's Azurill's Water Float!" I said.

Suddenly it got very dark. Lightning violently flashed, and Ani-Chan retreated instantly.

"Whoa! What's with the lightning?" I said.

The lightning flashed again. "Halt! Who goes there?" a voice said.

"Quick! Hide behind this rock!" Jade whispered, looking at the rock that was jutting out of the ground. We all scrambled behind it.

"You cannot hide from us! I will see you wherever you hide… And we will ATTACK!" the voice said again.

"Wah! Who are you?" Jade asked. She tried to keep her voice level, but there was an unmistakable tremor in her voice.

Jade and I peeked out from behind the rock and found that we were surrounded by eight Electrikes and a Manectric.

"We are the Electrike tribe! We are the residents of Amp Plains! And guess what? We don't like trespassers!" Manectric said.

"And you four are trespassers! And we will DESTROY all trespassers!" Manectric continued.

Jade trembled. "I'm scared…"

"It's okay," I whispered.

Jade took a deep breath. "But… I will fight! I'll be brave…" she said, putting a confident look on her face.

"Now… Prepare for trouble!"

And our battle began.

I took a step forward and was right in front of the Manectric. Two Electrikes flanked him.

I quickly Force Palmed the Manectric, who roared in pain. Jade followed up with Razor Leaf. Jade's Razor Leaf hit an Electrike and caused it to collapse. Ani-Chan Absorbed the energy of an Electrike. Ani-Chan's attack was followed up by Sparky, who used Low Kick to take out the Electrike.

The Manectric and half of the Electrikes howled like wolves. The rest sent charges of electricity at us.

I hit the Manectric with another Force Palm, and he barely held on. Jade, Ani-Chan, and Sparky continued the fight behind us. Ani-Chan attacked with Absorb, and another Electrike went down. Sparky used Quick Attack to hit an Electrike that was a few feet away. Jade tried to use Razor Leaf, but it missed the Electrike she had been targeting.

"Oops!" she said.

The Manectric bit me hard with electricity-charged fangs. The Electrikes followed up by biting me or ramming into me.

I used Force Palm and the Manectric went down, but as soon as I hit the Discharge Pokémon I found myself paralyzed again.

_ Urk… Not again…_

"Jade…" I groaned.

"Oh my Arceus! Do you need help?" Jade asked.

"Yes…" I grunted.

Jade fired a Razor Leaf, almost defeating an Electrike. Ani-Chan rushed in and Absorbed the Electrike into oblivion. Sparky used Low Kick and made an Electrike that was targeting me trip.

"Thanks…" I said.

The two other Electrikes rammed into me, and the three Jade and Ani-Chan abandoned advanced on us. Jade took out another Electrike and Ani-Chan once again tried to Absorb another one, but the Electrike barely held on. Luckily I recovered from paralysis and helped Ani-Chan take it out.

"Arigato, Emile-chan," Ani-Chan said.

"You're welcome," I said.

The battle raged on for a little while longer. Finally, thanks to all our combined efforts, the last few Electrikes went down.

"Ugh… You three are strong," Manectric said. Then he suddenly began to charge up electricity. "But no one leaves here alive!"

Manectric released a supercharged lightning bolt at us, and I could only think, _We're done for._ I shut my eyes tight and braced myself for the worst.

"Waaaaah!" Jade yelled.

"STOP!" a voice suddenly bellowed.

I opened one eye and was surprised to see the great Dusknoir in front of us. "Do not hurt these three! They come in peace!" he said.

Manectric growled. "Very well. We will leave. But do not expect mercy a second time." There was a flash of lightning, and when the flash cleared, all the Electrikes and the Manectric were gone.

"D-Dusknoir…?" I asked.

"Whoa! The great Dusknoir! That's so rad!" Sparky exclaimed.

"Hello, you guys," Dusknoir said, turning around to meet us. "That was quite a close call."

"You said it! Thanks a million for saving us!" Jade said.

"What was up with those guys anyway?" I asked.

"Those guys are the Electrike Tribe. They are a nomadic tribe that search for suitable lands to live in. Amp Plains is the perfect place for them, as it is often lashed by thunderstorms this time of year," Dusknoir explained. "They strongly dislike intruders and will attack everyone who comes here."

"How did you find out that we were here?" Jade asked.

"Marill and Azurill told me about where you were going. I realized that this was the time of year where the Electrike tribe was here. And so I… followed you here," Dusknoir admitted.

"Oh, and one more thing," Jade said. "We got a ransom note that appeared to be from Skuntank." Her voice rose slightly when she said _Skuntank_.

"Ah. Skuntank. What a villainous piece of scum. But then again, it's not like they'd come HERE, would they?" Dusknoir's voice also rose slightly.

"Yeah. They wouldn't want to risk getting their stinky butts kicked, would they?" I also got the hint.

Dusknoir walked over to the little rock jutting out of the ground. "Isn't that right, Team Skull?" he said.

"Heh-heh-heh!"

"Whoa-ho-ho!"

"Chaw-haw-haw!"

Team Skull emerged from behind the rock, looking kind of shocked. They smiled guiltily.

"I thought so! Now, what are you doing here?" Dusknoir said.

"We were… We were hoping that the Manectric would finish them all off," Skuntank confessed.

"Well, it seemed only fair! Their stupid Guildmaster really laid a beating on us!" Zubat said.

"Then we'd clean up once they were finished. There'd be no evidence," Koffing said.

"I see. So do you still want to get rid of Team Aura?" Dusknoir asked, his red eye glowing slightly.

"Well, that was the plan… but…" Koffing gulped. "We didn't count on the great Dusknoir coming to interfere…"

"Team Aura alone is one thing… But with the great Dusknoir… Eep!" Zubat said.

"So we'll leave. For now," Skuntank said. "C'mon." Skuntank led his two companions away.

Dusknoir turned to us. "Those creatures are so despicable. Taking a precious item from such cute little kids…" he said. "Oh! Speaking of which, did you three find the Water Float?"

"We think so…" I said. I walked up to the blue ring and closely examined it. "Hey Dusknoir, is this a Water Float?" I asked.

Dusknoir walked up to me and examined the ring. "There's no doubt about it. This is a Water Float."

"A Water Float?" Sparky said in awe.

"Ooh! It's so pretty!" Ani-Chan said.

"I agree!" Jade said.

Dusknoir handed me the Water Float, and I put it in my bag. "Thanks for saving us from those Electrikes!" I said respectfully.

"It's nothing," Dusknoir said modestly.

"We should get back to the guild and give this back to Marill and Azurill," Jade said.

"I'll come with you," Dusknoir said.

And with that, we touched our badges and teleported away from Amp Plains.

XxX

Marill and Azurill were in Treasure Town, talking to the Kecleon brothers. Azurill's eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"B-but… Team Aura has been gone for so long and… I'm super worried about them! And what if I never see my Water Float again? Wah, Marill!" Azurill sobbed. He collapsed into Marill's arms.

"Azurill, it's okay. They're probably just fine!" Marill assured him.

"They're probably just taking a long time," the green Kecleon added.

"They'll be here soon," the purple Kecleon said.

Dusknoir, Jade, and I approached the shop. "Speaking of Team Aura…" I said.

Azurill perked up immediately. "T-Team Aura? Oh, Team Aura! Yay! Yay! Yay! Did you get my Water Float back?" Azurill asked, racing up to us.

"We did!" I said, opening our Treasure Bag. I took out the blue ring and showed it to Azurill. Azurill gasped.

"That's it! That's the Water Float!" he said excitedly.

"You guys got it back? Oh, thank you!" Marill said.

"Oh no, the one you should really thank is the great Dusknoir here. If he hadn't shown up right then and there, we wouldn't be here," Jade said.

Dusknoir chuckled. "These nice kids did most of the work," he said.

"How can we repay you? First you save Azurill, and now this… You guys are doing so many favors for us!" Marill said.

"Team Aura should be proud of themselves as well. I remember that day when you two took down that despicable Drowzee… They reacted so quickly once they heard Azurill was in danger…" Kecleon said.

"We were that fast only because Emile here had a dream," Jade said offhandedly.

Dusknoir gasped. "A… dream? What do you mean by… dream?" he asked.

We described my weird dizzy spells to Dusknoir.

_ Who knows? Maybe Dusknoir knows something about my dizzy spells…_ I thought.

While we explained my spells to Dusknoir, his red eye grew brighter. It unnerved me for some reason. I mean, Dusknoir was a nice guy… right?

"Great Scott! That Riolu possesses the Dimensional Scream!" Dusknoir exclaimed once we finished our explanations.

"The what?" Jade said.

"The Dimensional Scream!" Dusknoir repeated. "The Dimensional Scream is… Well, it's kind of hard to explain. Let's go somewhere private to discuss it."

In a few minutes, Dusknoir, Jade, and I were at the beach watching the waves splash against the shoreline.

"So. Tell me, where did you meet this Riolu?" Dusknoir prompted.

Jade walked over to a spot right behind Dusknoir. "Right here," she said. "He was zonked out right here."

"Zonked out… Do you know how he got there?" Dusknoir asked.

"Nope. Once he woke up, he said that he didn't remember anything except his name and the memory of being a human…" Jade said.

"A human? Tell me… What was his name again?" Dusknoir asked. He seemed almost excited now.

"My name is Emile," I said.

"Emile…" Dusknoir mused. For a split second, I thought that I saw a small smile on his face.

_ I must've just been imagining things,_ I assured myself. _It's probably nothing._

"Does that name mean anything to you?" Jade asked.

Dusknoir looked to Beach Cave, his face expressionless. "No. That name means nothing to me. I'm sorry."

Jade looked down. "Oh… That's too bad," she said.

"However… I do know a little something about Emile's special ability," Dusknoir said.

Jade looked back up. "You do?"

"Yes."

"Tell us about it!"

"Of course. Emile's special ability is called the Dimensional Scream. It is a very strange ability. It is unknown how one gets it, and it's very rare. Not many Pokémon have it. Apparently, if you touch certain items, you will be able to see visions," Dusknoir explained.

"Wow! That's interesting!" Jade said. "Is there anything else that you know about the Dimensional Scream?"

Dusknoir paused. "No. I'm sorry. But I will dedicate myself to researching this ability. I just don't like it when there's something I don't know! Hoo! Hoo-ha-ha!" Dusknoir said.

"Oh no, thank you, great Dusknoir! Thank you!" Jade said.

"It's my pleasure," Dusknoir chuckled.

Flap! Flap! Flap! I heard several loud flapping noises above us. I looked up and saw a lot of Pelipper flying in a tight circle in the sky.

"What's up with all those Pelipper?" Jade asked.

"I have no idea…" I said absently.

Then I heard another noise. This one sounded like footsteps in the soft sand. I turned around and saw Bidoof waddling up to us.

"Hey, Bidoof! What's up?" I said.

"Huff… puff… There you are! I've been looking all over for y'all!" he said breathlessly.

"What's going on?" Jade asked.

"All guild apprentices must report to the guild immediately! There's an emergency!" he said.

"An emergency?" I asked.

"Yes! An emergency! C'mon!" Bidoof said urgently.

And without further hesitation, Dusknoir, Jade, Bidoof and I raced up to the guild.


	19. Chapter 18: Northern Desert

**I'm awfully sorry for the wait. My life has been rather busy, but I'll be updating more often now. Thanks for your patience.**

**Anyway, here's CHEEEEEEEAPTER 18: Northern Desert! (chuggaa FTW)**

Chapter 18: Northern Desert

We burst into the guild and found all of our apprentices crowded around the Outlaw Notice Board.

"We're all assembled!" Bidoof confirmed.

"Very good," Chatot said.

"So what's up?" I asked.

"Guild members… I regret to inform you that… Another Time Gear has been stolen," Chatot said.

"WHAT?!" Jade and I screamed.

"Yes. Another Time Gear has been stolen. And… This one…" Chatot gulped.

"Was it the one at…?" I trailed off, not wanting to finish my sentence.

"It was the one from… Fogbound Lake," Chatot said slowly.

"WHAT?!" Bidoof exclaimed.

We weren't the only ones who were surprised. Dusknoir gasped as well.

"But you guys said that your expedition to Fogbound Lake ended in failure! Do you mean to tell me that there was really a Time Gear there?" he said.

"We're sorry, great Dusknoir! We promised the guardian at Fogbound Lake that we wouldn't tell anyone! I'm sorry!" Jade quickly confessed.

"I understand. You had to protect the Time Gear," he said. "But still… Another Time Gear stolen? That's quite troubling…"

"However, we have apparently discovered who is taking the Time Gears!" Chatot said triumphantly. With a swift wave of his wing, he gestured to the Outlaw Notice Board.

On the board, a giant note with a picture of a Pokémon overlapped all the other notes. The picture on the note was green and reptilian, with two yellow eyes and a long, skinny leaf on his head.

"That Pokémon is called Grovyle, and he is apparently the Time Gear thief!" Chatot said.

I quietly gasped. _Grovyle…? Why does that name sound so… familiar?_

"Oh! That reminds me! Is Uxie okay?" Jade asked, concern in her voice.

"Uxie is safely in Magnezone's custody. He is fine," Chatot assured us.

Jade sighed in relief. "Whew. That's good."

"This horrible outlaw has been upsetting the balance of the Pokémon world! He must be stopped!" Chatot said.

But before we could respond with our usual "YEAH!" Wigglytuff began to make some weird noises. I looked at him, and the pink bunny looked about ready to explode.

"Urrrr…" Wigglytuff moaned.

"G-Guildmaster?!" Chimecho said.

"Urr… Urrrrr…" Wigglytuff groaned. The ground began to shake.

"G-G-Guildmaster!" Chatot cried, his bright wings clasped firmly over his head.

"Here it comes…" Jade said.

"Urrrrrrrrrr…!" Wigglytuff groaned again. I clamped my hands against my ears, but even that couldn't block the sound of the "YOOM…TAH!" that followed.

"Wah!" Loudred said, stumbling back.

"Everyone! We're gonna catch Grovyle!" Wigglytuff said.

"YEAH!" we cheered.

"Excuse me. I think that I should also help out with this investigation," Dusknoir said.

"We'd be honored!" Chatot said.

"If there's anyone we want on our side, it'd be you, great Dusknoir!" Jade said.

"So! All of you, go to Treasure Town to prepare. We have a big journey for you," Chatot said.

And with a wave of his wing, Chatot dismissed us.

I noticed that we were running really low on Reviver Seeds; there were only two seeds left. We also were getting low on Oran Berries, but that was an easily fixed problem. We just stopped by the Kangaskhan Storage and got some berries.

Kecleon was being rather useless. He didn't have any Reviver Seeds, but he did have some next-to-useless Cheri Berries and some Heal Seeds.

"Gee, thanks, Master of Pretty Much Nothing Useful," Jade grumbled as we left the shop.

"Hey! C'mon! I'll give you two Heal Seeds and a Rawst Berry all for only 200 Poké!" Kecleon said desperately.

"I'll be back when you stock up on good items," Jade said.

Kecleon was silent.

We did all our normal things in Treasure Town, but Jade insisted once again that we check on Eggy-Poo.

"Huh? The Egg… Is it? Could it be? Is it close to hatching? Could it?! Will it?!" Chansey said, her voice full of suspense.

"Well? Is it?" Jade asked impatiently.

Crack. Suddenly fractures appeared on the egg. The fractures got wider and wider until…

CRACK! The Egg burst open, revealing a small, mushroom-like Pokémon. A Shroomish.

"Huh? The Egg… hatched!" Chansey exclaimed. "It's a healthy Shroomish!"

"Hi!" the Shroomish said, grinning broadly. "Join team?" he asked, his speech somewhat broken.

"I think he wants to join your team! Will you accept him as a member?" Chansey said.

"Who could refuse such a cute Pokémon? Sure!" Jade said, patting the Shroomish on his head.

"Yay! Join team! Join team!" he said, bouncing merrily. "Name?" he suddenly questioned.

"Do you want to name him?" Chansey asked.

"Sure, but what should we name him?" Jade asked.

"I think we should name him Shroom," I suggested.

"Your names are just so creative," Jade grumbled sarcastically.

"Shroom? Good!" Shroom said.

Shroom skipped off into a teepee, singing "Shroom! Shroom! Yay!"

"Come see me whenever you get another Egg!" Chansey said.

"We will," I said.

We double checked our supplies and deposited the last of our money. Once we were sure that we were all ready for the day's work, we returned to the guild.

"All right! Are we all here?" Chatot asked.

"Yes, Chatot!" Loudred said.

"Okay! Here's the plan: We know that Grovyle will strike wherever there is a Time Gear. So our plan is to find where the Time Gears are and protect them!" Chatot told us.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jade said.

"Dusknoir, the Guildmaster, and I have picked three places where a Time Gear might be hiding. We will be dividing up into three groups to search these three areas," Chatot continued. "Now, all of you please take out your Wonder Maps."

I opened out the old map that was still mostly shrouded with clouds.

"First: Loudred and Corphish. You two will be exploring the Eastern Forest. It's a large forest in the east, as its name implies," Chatot said matter-of-factly.

"GOTCHA, Chatot!" Loudred said, looking down menacingly at the poor Corphish.

"The second will be Bidoof, Dugtrio, and Sunflora! You three will be searching Crystal Cave," Chatot continued.

"Yup yup! Will do!" Bidoof said.

"And last but certainly not least will be Emile and Jade. You two will be searching Northern Desert," Chatot concluded.

"I don't like the desert," Jade grumbled.

"Pardon me?" Chatot asked innocently.

Jade put on a hasty grin. "N-nothing! Nothing at all, Chatot!"

The Wonder Map grew slightly warm once Chatot finished. I looked at the map and saw a tiny yellow dot in an area that was covered by clouds.

"That must be where the desert is," I said, pointing to the dot.

"Ugh. I hate deserts. They're hot and sandy and… just… bleah. Why can't we search Eastern Forest instead? I like forests," Jade complained.

Before Jade could complain more, Diglett suddenly spoke up.

"Chatot, why am I not going?" he asked.

Chatot turned to the young mole. "Well, we can't very well leave the guild completely abandoned, even at a time like this," he said calmly.

"Croagunk and I are staying at the guild as well. The jobs we do here are pretty important," Chimecho said.

"That's a good way to look at it, Chimecho," Chatot said. "So! That's the plan. Guildmaster, if you would?" Chatot turned to Wigglytuff, who was blankly staring off into space.

Oh no. Don't tell me he…

Wigglytuff suddenly let out a loud snore. "Zzzzz… Zzzzz…"

Whispering broke out in the crowd.

"I don't believe it! He's fallen asleep!" Chimecho whispered.

"He's sleeping with his eyes wide open! Ewww!" Sunflora said.

"The Guildmaster never fails to impress me!" Diglett said, looking at Wigglytuff in awe.

"Urk! I have to get the Guildmaster's attention! But I don't want him to…" Chatot said to himself. He took a deep breath and approached Wigglytuff.

"Guildmaster!" he said as loud as he dared. Wigglytuff continued to snore. "GUILDMASTER!" Chatot practically yelled.

That jolted Wigglytuff out of his slumber. "Everyone! We're gonna catch Grovyle! YOOM… TAH!" he cried. Everyone stepped back from the pink rabbit. "Okay! You are dismissed! Do your best!"

The assembly broke up, and everyone went to do their duty. We were about to do the same, but then Dusknoir came over.

"Hey, you two. Just a little word of advice: be careful. Northern desert is a hotspot for sandstorms," he warned.

"Thanks, Dusknoir. We'll be careful," I said.

I shuffled through our items one last time, and when I was sure that we were all ready, we set out for the desert.

Soon we had arrived at the desert. The sun was hotter than ever, and our feet sank into the soft sand below. I was reminded of the beach that I had met Jade at. That seemed like forever ago, even though it was only a few weeks ago.

"Ugh… I hate the desert," Jade moaned for the millionth time.

"Don't worry. We'll make this snappy," I promised.

"The sooner we get out of here, the better," Jade said.

"Okay." We walked ahead and instantly found ourselves in a mystery dungeon.

Jade was right about the desert: it was hot and sandy and just plain old bleah. That was the best way to describe it.

Two floors in, we encountered a trap. Underneath my feet was a sort of nozzle that was similar to the Summon Trap we found at Amp Plains. This trap released a gas that smelled very sweet, and I felt all my worries fall away. I relaxed and closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, I was asleep.

I came to a little while later. Jade looked very furious with me.

"Stupid leader… Slacking on the job…" she grumbled.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault! It's the trap's fault!" I protested.

"Let's just go," Jade said.

I took a step forward and heard a small click behind me. I turned around and found that Jade had accidentally stepped on the Slumber Trap. She was curled up on the trap's metal surface and snoring like a baby.

I smiled and took a deep breath. _Time to pull a little prank,_ I thought.

"WAKE UP YOU STUPID CHIKORITA!" I yelled.

Jade's eyes fluttered open. "Wha- Who—" she sputtered.

I grinned and helped her up. "Don't trigger any more traps," I joked.

Jade went red and vaguely muttered "Shut up."

On the next floor we encountered a howling sandstorm, just as Dusknoir warned. Every few steps, sand would get in our eyes and hurt us. It was a very painful experience.

"When will this end?" Jade moaned. She paused to spit some sand out of her mouth.

"Soon," I said. I couldn't even say that much without getting a mouthful of sand.

The desert was quite unforgiving, with the heat, lack of water, and sandstorms, not to mention all the Pokémon who were out for blood.

There were also a ton of traps. From Slumber Traps to Trip Traps, it seemed like everything wanted us dead. I was beginning to agree with Jade: I hated the desert.

After maybe ten floors, the desert began to cool down ever so slightly. I was quite grateful, as this meant that we wouldn't have to worry about overheating.

Five floors later we emerged onto a flat sandy area that looked exactly like the rest of the dungeon. I took a step forward and noticed that my feet sunk deeper into the sand than usual. I was about to take another step when Jade gasped.

"Don't go any further! There's quicksand ahead!" she cried.

"Quicksand?" I asked.

"Just get away from it!" Jade was starting to panic now.

"Okay!" I took a few steps backward and found that there was indeed a huge hole of quicksand ahead of us.

_ Jade's right… There is a ton of quicksand…_ I thought. I blinked, and suddenly a strange feeling descended on me.

This looks so familiar to me… Wait! That's it! I've been here before! It was the same feeling I had felt at Foggy Forest. I knew this place. I somehow knew this place.

But why am I feeling this way? I've never even heard of this place before! So how come I know this place…

"Emile!" Jade's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You're daydreaming again!"

"Oh… yeah. Sorry," I said quickly.

"C'mon! There's nothing here but sand, sand, and sand. We should get back to the guild," she said impatiently. "The sooner we can get out of here, the happier I'll be," she added.

So we simultaneously touched our badges and teleported back to the guild to report our findings to Chatot.

"What? Are you saying that no one found anything?" Chatot exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Jade muttered.

"We searched everywhere, but… nothing. Hey hey…" Corphish said.

"We didn't find a Time Gear… but… I did… find this…" Bidoof muttered. He reached into his Treasure Bag and took out a small reddish-pink gem. It reminded me of the trapped pink crystal at the end of Waterfall Cave.

"You… You had time to pick up a crystal? We never noticed it!" Sunflora said.

"Bidoof… Our objective was to find a Time Gear, not a crystal. We can't believe that you had the nerve to collect a souvenir for yourself! Who do you think you are?!" Dugtrio spat in outrage.

"Dugtrio! Lay off on Bidoof!" Sunflora said indignantly.

Dugtrio looked down sadly. "Sorry…"

"Naw, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have picked it up," Bidoof said. "I just wanted a souvenir for myself." He put the gem back into his Treasure Bag.

"I thought that these locations may have concealed a Time Gear, but I was apparently mistaken. I'm quite sorry," Dusknoir said, looking down at all of us.

"No, no! It's fine! We all make mistakes," Chatot said.

"That doesn't change the fact that we didn't find anything," Dusknoir said, looking frustrated.

"No one blames you." Chatot turned to face us. "Though today ended in a failure, we must not give up! We'll call it a night, but tomorrow we'll continue searching for the Time Gears! Now, you are dismissed!" Chatot said.

In a matter of minutes dinner was ready. All discussion at dinner was about our day's failed explorations.

"We searched ALL of Eastern Forest, but we didn't find ANYTHING!" Loudred said.

"Oh my gosh! We looked everywhere in Crystal Cave, but there was nothing there!" Sunflora said.

"Bidoof here found something. It just wasn't a Time Gear," Dugtrio grumbled.

"We had to endure several hours of hot sun, traps, dehydration, hunger, and hostile Pokémon, and what did we find? Nothing," Jade said.

For whatever reason, Jade's statement made me feel strangely guilty. Then I realized that I hadn't told her about my weird felling at the end of the dungeon.

Soon it was time to go to bed. There was nothing really troubling on my mind, so I fell asleep pretty quickly.

XxX

**Not too much to say here. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	20. Chapter 19: Quicksand Cave

**I. HATED. THIS. PART. OF. THE. GAME.  
**

**So many sandstorms, so many traps, so many tough** **Pokémon... IT'S TERRIBLE!**

Chapter 19: Quicksand Cave

The next thing I knew, Loudred was waking us up in the usual manner. Jade and I stumbled out of bed and moseyed into the main room, where Dusknoir and all the other guild members were assembled.

"Ahem. Dusknoir and I are searching for possible locations that could hide a Time Gear. Even though we are searching, we must also ask you to search for the Time Gears today. Understood?" Chatot said.

"Understood," we all said. Well, almost all of us.

I wasn't really listening. I was off in my own thoughts, thinking about the strange feeling that had fallen upon me in the Northern Desert.

_ I swear I know that place somehow! But… why? Why do I know this place?_ I thought.

"Emile... I asked you a question…" Jade grumbled. I blinked and saw Jade frowning angrily at me. "Well? Where should we look?"

"Hey, Jade," I said.

"Huh?" Jade said.

I quickly told her about the strange feeling I felt at the bottom of Northern Desert. As Jade listened, her eyes grew wider and wider.

"So you're saying that at the end of the desert, you got this weird feeling that you'd been there before. And you apparently had that feeling before in Foggy Forest," Jade summarized.

"Pretty much," I said.

"And the last time you felt that in Foggy Forest…" Jade said.

"It won't hurt to try, will it?" I asked.

"Whoa. Slow down there, buddy boy. You're saying that we should trek through fifteen floors of sand, enemies, traps, and scorching heat just out of an assumption that there's something at the end. And if we're wrong, then we'll have to go BACK through all of that." Jade looked at me. "Are you CRAZY?"

I sighed. "Apparently I am."

"'Cause I know that I am!" Jade said with a huge grin.

"You're saying that you want to do this," I said.

"Sure! What's life without taking a few risks?" Jade replied.

"You're sure you want to go?" I asked.

"Yes! C'mon! Let's go already!" Jade said impatiently.

"Alright. Let's get ready to go," I said.

And with that, we clambered up the ladder and went to Treasure Town to prepare for our desert adventure.

For some reason, our trip through Northern Desert seemed to take a lot more time than before. The sun beat down angrily on us, traps sprung up every two steps, and the Pokémon were fiercer than ever.

Finally we got to the area with all the quicksand. It looked just like how we saw it yesterday: a flat field of sand with nothing but quicksand.

_ Quicksand…_

"Emile, there's nothing here but quicksand. We went through all of that for nothing," Jade sighed. "Well, if you jumped into the quicksand, then you'll get something. You'll get a painful death…"

Then it dawned on me.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said if you jump in the quicksand—" Jade started.

"What was that?" I repeated.

"Are you deaf? If you jump into the quicksand—"

"That's it. We have to jump into the quicksand," I said.

"Are you nuts? We'll probably die if we do that," Jade said.

"Good point. But… we have to do it. Who knows? There could be a Time Gear down there," I said.

"But if you're wrong…"

"Don't think about what happens if I'm wrong. Just think about what happens if I'm right. Relax," I said, putting a hand on Jade's shoulder.

"Relax," Jade repeated. "Relax."

Jade took several deep breaths before she looked up at me. "Okay. I think I'm ready."

I looked at the vortex of swirling quicksand in front of us. "On three?" I asked.

"On three," Jade said.

Jade grabbed my hand. I found that strangely comforting. If I was going to just sink in the quicksand, then at least I'd sink in there with a friend.

"One…" I took a deep breath and held it in.

"Two…" Jade and I slowly approached the quicksand.

"Three…" I shut my eyes tight.

"Go!" The final word.

I blindly jumped forward, my hand curled tightly around Jade's. I felt my feet hit some soft sand, and then we began to sink.

I doubted my idea almost instantly. The sand was pulling us in at an alarming rate. In seconds we were completely swallowed.

_ Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,_ I thought. _I don't want to drown in this sand… But if we're wrong, then that's what's coming for us…_

Time slowed to a crawl, and my thoughts became scattered and random. A dizzy feeling surrounded me, and my body longed for air.

I was beginning to think that we weren't going to make it out of this quicksand hole alive when suddenly I fell down and hit a sandy floor.

"Oof!" I heard a grunt next to me, and relief flooded me. It was Jade. Jade and I made it out of the quicksand alive.

I opened my eyes, pausing to rub sand out of them. Then I gasped.

We were in some sort of underground cavern with a sandy floor and rocks for walls. Sand trickled down from the quicksand pits above us.

"Whoa," I breathed.

"I'm gonna be shaking sand out of places I didn't even know I had! And… Holy Arceus…" Jade was also at a loss for words.

"So what's the only logical thing to do when you find a mysterious cave? Explore it," I said.

"Right," Jade agreed.

I glanced up at the quicksand above us one last time. Then I walked forward, Jade following close behind.

One of the first things I noticed was the temperature. It was still rather hot, but it was much cooler than outside.

_ Just as long as Jade doesn't complain about the heat…_ I thought.

The next thing I noticed was all the Pokémon. There were all sorts of new Pokémon such as Pupitars and Mawiles… and they were all super weak. They fell easily to Force Palm, but on the eighth floor, I found myself unable to use Force Palm.

"What the heck? Why can't I use Force Palm now?" I exclaimed.

"I know why! It's because you've run out of PP!" Jade said.

"What?"

"I'll explain later. For now, just drink this," Jade said. She opened up my Treasure Bag and took out a strange container with some orange liquid sloshing around in it.

"Um…"

"It's a Max Elixir. Drink it and you'll be able to use Force Palm again," Jade said.

I unscrewed the lid to the Max Elixir and took a huge gulp out of it. Strength surged through my body, and I found myself able to use Force Palm again.

The third thing I noticed was the sandstorms. You would have thought that there wouldn't be any sandstorms in here, considering this place was underground. But on every other floor a sandstorm would rage.

After the tenth floor Jade and I entered a rest room with a Kangaskhan Rock. I could tell my partner was relieved to take a break from the sandstorms. After five minutes or so, Jade and I were ready to move on.

There were even more sandstorms now, and quite a few more enemies. Tyranitars and Sandslashes viciously attacked us. I struggled ever so slightly when faced with these brutes.

I noticed that it almost seemed to get cooler as we descended deeper in the dungeon. On the tenth floor, I was shivering. That wasn't the only thing that I was feeling.

My heart began to race as soon as we entered the tenth floor. As we got closer to the stairs my heart pounded faster. When we stood by the stairs my heart felt like it was pounding out of my shaggy chest.

Why is my heart pounding faster? I wondered. I blinked and suddenly had a flash of déjà vu. Holy… I felt like this at Fogbound Lake! My heart began to race when we stood by the Time Gear! Could that mean…?!

"Emile… Wake up," Jade said, waving a hand in front of my face. I blinked again and was snapped out of my daydreaming.

"Uh…" I said.

"Seriously, dude. You don't usually drift off into la-la land. So why are you drifting off now?" Jade asked.

"Let's just go down the stairs. It'll be easier to explain there," I said.

Without further discussion, we walked down the stairs.

When we reached the bottom, I could only gasp and look at the beautiful sight in front of us.

We were in a huge cavern not unlike the one that we had fallen into at the beginning of the dungeon. But this one was not dry and sandy, because spread out in front of us was a huge lake full of clear water. In the middle of the lake was a strange green glowing light that made my pulse race even faster.

"Whoa… This is so… pretty…" Jade said, looking to the light in the middle of the lake.

"It sure is," I agreed.

"I didn't expect to see such a beautiful lake underground…" Jade said, entranced by the strange beauty of the lake.

_ It is really pretty… But… That light… It seems so… familiar…_ I thought. Then it came to me.

"Jade… That light in the middle of the lake… I think… I think it's a Time Gear," I said.

"Yeah. I think so too…" Jade's face flushed with relief. "Whew! I'm glad that Grovyle didn't find this one!"

"Let's go get a better look at it," I said.

We took a step forward… and everything went dark.

"Wah! It suddenly got dark!" Jade exclaimed.

"Wait! What?! Who are you?" a voice asked. The voice seemed to come from nowhere.

"Ahh! Who said that?" Jade said to the open air.

"Why have you come?" the voice asked.

"We came here to look for a Time Gear!" I shouted.

"No! Stay away from the Time Gear! I'll have to stop you if you want the Time Gear!" the voice said.

Something emerged from the lake in front of us. It had a slight frame that reminded me of Uxie. Pretty much the only thing that was different about it was its head. It was pink, with a head that almost liked like hair. Its eyes were open, revealing golden irises.

"Wah! Who are you?" Jade asked, stumbling back from the Pokémon.

"I am Mesprit! The guardian of the Underground Lake!" the figure barked. "And I won't let you take the Time Gear!"

Mesprit advanced, and a battle began.

Right away, Mesprit's eyes glowed brighter, and she seemed to bulk up.

_ Nuts… This is gonna be hard,_ I thought.

I clenched my fists and walked up to Mesprit.

"Emile! Use Bite! It'll hurt her more!" Jade advised.

"Okay!" I said. I leapt up to her and bit her viciously, making her recoil in pain. In retaliation, Mesprit's eyes glowed purple, and suddenly I was flat on my bum, pink psychic energy surrounding me.

I struggled to my feet and used Bite again, making Mesprit recoil again. This time Jade followed up with Razor Leaf, weakening Mesprit even more.

"I… will not… give in…" Mesprit panted. Her eyes glowed pink, and another strange psychic attack collided with me.

I quickly followed up with Bite, and Jade quickly used Magical Leaf one more time, and Mesprit went down. Literally. She collapsed to the ground and almost rolled into the lake. But her eyes were still shining brightly, showing her bravery as a fighter.

"Ugh… I still… won't let you take… the Time Gear…" she breathed.

"Mesprit, please listen. We don't want to take the Time Gear," Jade said calmly, enunciating every syllable clearly.

Mesprit suddenly got up, her eyes burning brightly. "Don't lie to me! I know what happened at Fogbound Lake! Uxie told me through his telepathy!" she said fiercely.

"Telepathy?" I asked. "How can he do that?"

"Why should I tell you, thieves? The only thing that you need to know is that I know what happened. And I won't let you steal my Time Gear," Mesprit said.

"Look! We're trying to tell you that we didn't steal the Time Gear!" I interjected.

Mesprit studied me for a moment, her golden eyes glowing with a strange hypnotic effect. Finally she nodded slowly. "I believe you. But… if you two aren't the thieves, then who is?"

Jade and I opened our mouths to answer, but before we could tell her about the Time Gear thief, someone cleared his throat behind us.

"That would probably be… me." The voice was rushed and rather quiet, and it sent shivers down my spine. We turned around and saw a very familiar Grass type behind us.

The Pokémon was very tall and reptilian, with large yellow eyes, a red stomach, and a leaf on his head. He had three smaller leaves on each of his arms, and a cold smirk played on his lips.

"Grovyle," I said.

"Yes. Me," he said.

Mesprit gasped. "You! You're the Time Gear thief!" she screeched.

"Yes. I am the Time Gear thief. Now, I have no quarrels with you, but I must ask you to step aside," he said.

"Never," Mesprit breathed, floating up to Grovyle.

"Now now, don't strain yourself. You're already weak from that battle." Grovyle almost seemed sad, as if he didn't want to hurt Mesprit. But then he lashed out and hit the pink fairy, causing her to fall down. After that, I was sure I had imagined the pain in his voice.

"Urk…" Mesprit groaned.

Jade and I quickly strode over to Grovyle, our faces looking brave and determined. Grovyle stepped back, quite surprised that we wanted to try and stop him.

"If you want the Time Gear, you'll have to get through us first!" Jade said bravely.

Grovyle sighed. "I'm sorry, you two. I have no quarrel with you. But… I must do this."

Faster than you could say, "ow," Grovyle struck us. We were no match for his strength, and we collapsed, wheezing. Grovyle walked up to the edge of the lake, and after a moment's hesitation, he jumped into the water and began to swim toward the green glow.

Mesprit groaned. "Ugh… he's strong…"

We grunted and got up too. "Oof…"

"Ouch…"

Mesprit looked quite worried. "I'm quite sorry for ever suspecting you two. Now I know who the real thief is." She looked out to the lake. I followed her gaze. When I saw what was happening, my heart plummeted.

Grovyle was at the center of the lake, surrounded by the green glow of the Time Gear. He paused, looked down into the water, and dived down.

"Not good," I said frantically.

"Can we do anything?" Jade asked.

Mesprit sighed. "No. That Time Gear's as good as gone."

Right on cue, the glow from the lake vanished. Grovyle leapt out of the water quickly and raced out of the cave. The ground began to rumble.

"What's going on?" Jade asked, looking around quickly.

Mesprit shuddered. "You two! Get ready to run!"

"What—" I began.

Then I saw it. From the center of the lake, the world began to turn gray. The small waves in the lake stopped mid-splash. The water dripping down from the stalactites stopped, leaving them suspended in the air.

"What the—" I said.

"The Time Gear was stolen! Time is coming to a standstill here!" Mesprit yelled over the din.

"What?!" Jade asked.

The gray area was almost upon us. I had the feeling that if the gray area caught us, it wouldn't be good.

"Just run! Run with all your might! Or you'll be trapped in time!" Mesprit called.

Trapped in time didn't sound appealing to me. I didn't stand around anymore. I just ran, praying that Jade and Mesprit were following.

I don't really remember how we got out. I just remember running for my life, with Jade and Mesprit rushing right behind us. But after quite a bit of running, we burst out of Quicksand Cave. I was pretty much out of energy by then. We ran a little while longer until we were far, far away from the pit of quicksand.

We looked around and made sure that the strange gray area was no longer spreading. When we were sure that we were safe, we took a moment to relax in the desert. There weren't too many Pokémon that wanted to hurt us, which was good, because we were all pretty beat up. Especially Mesprit.

Cuts and bruises speckled her body, and one of her eyes was swollen. Her speech was slurred and slightly incomprehensible.

"Hey Mesprit, are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need a little break. First you two roughed me up pretty good, then that thief Grovyle got me, then we had to run just now… You two are very strong," Mesprit said.

"Thank you," Jade said proudly.

After another moment of resting, Mesprit said that she was ready to move out.

"Just take me back to your guild and we'll go from there," she said.

Jade and I set off, Mesprit following close behind. Occasionally we had to stop for a quick break, but in a minute or two we'd be on our feet again.

After a lot of walking, the familiar pink tent of the Wigglytuff Guild came into view. Mesprit looked very happy to see this tent, as she was very tired from the long journey.

"That's…your guild?" Mesprit panted.

"Yep. That's the Wigglytuff Guild. Home of the famous Wigglytuff," Jade said.

Mesprit was quiet for a minute. "That's… nice…" Then she passed out.

From there we had to carry Mesprit to the guild. She was really light, though, so she wasn't too hard to carry.

We found Magnezone and his two Magnemites waiting for us. We quickly explained the situation to the three Pokémon. They all listened carefully to us, and when we were finished they took Mesprit from us.

"ZZZT! We will keep this fine young Pokémon in our custody until all this is over! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

"Okay," I said. "So she'll be okay?"

"ZZZT! Yes she will! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

I sighed in relief. "Whew. That's good."

Magnezone and his Magnemite squad left with Mesprit in tow.

Jade turned to me. "Hey, Emile. Let's go tell the guild members about that adventure," she suggested.

"Good idea. Let's go," I said.

We walked into the Wigglytuff tent and walked down the ladder where we found all of the guild members in the guild doing all their jobs.

Chatot noticed us when we came in. "Ah! You two! Did you find anything?" he asked.

"We certainly did find something."

Chatot gasped. "Squawk! What did you find?" he asked.

"…It's a little hard to explain. But it's really important. Get the guild assembled."

XxX

**Thanks again for reading and putting up with my erratic update schedule. Don't forget to tell me how Pokémon use TMs in the Review section or by PMing me. Thanks once again (gosh, how many times do I say thanks?!) for your support and suggestions. :)**


	21. Chapter 20: Crystal Cave

**Well, you've waited long enough, here it is, chapter 20, Crystal Cave. Enjoy.**

Chapter 20: Crystal Cave

"Squawk! You're saying that you came face to face with Grovyle? And he stole a Time Gear from a secret underground lake in the desert?" Chatot summed up. We had just finished telling all the other guild members about our Quicksand Cave adventure.

"Yep. Pretty much," I said.

"But we couldn't protect the Time Gear. Grovyle just knocked us aside and took it," Jade said, looking down sadly.

"No one blames y'all!" Bidoof assured us.

"This is great! At least we know where a Time Gear is!" Sunflora said.

"Yeah, but… We're still back to square one. We have no idea where another Time Gear is…" Corphish said.

"And because of that, we don't know where Grovyle will strike next…" Dugtrio said, all three of his heads hanging low.

Dusknoir, who had been strangely silent for most of the meeting, suddenly perked up. "Maybe we do, though."

"What do you mean?" Chimecho asked.

"We all know that Mesprit and Uxie were guarding a Time Gear at a lake. Both lakes were in unusual locations; Uxie's lake was on a high plateau, and Mesprit's lake was in an underground cavern."

"Oh yeah! Mesprit said that she knew what had happened with Uxie!" Jade said.

"Precisely. Now, according to legend, Uxie and Mesprit are part of a legendary trio. Mesprit is said to represent emotion, and Uxie is said to represent knowledge… But who is the third of this trio?

"The third member of the trio is called Azelf, and he is said to represent willpower. So, my guess is this: the last Time Gear will be at a lake, and it will be guarded by Azelf," Dusknoir explained.

"Oh! I get it now!" Sunflora said.

"So there may be a Time Gear hidden in a place where we already looked! Who knows? It could be in the forest or in Crystal Cave!" Diglett said.

"But where could it be…" Corphish mused.

Dusknoir tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hmm… This may be nothing, but… I think I may know."

Everyone looked up to the gray ghost.

"But it will require some cooperation…" Dusknoir turned to Bidoof. "Bidoof, you said that you picked up a crystal in Crystal Cave, right? May I see it for a moment?"

Bidoof stepped back, looking surprised. "You want to see my… crystal?! How can I be sure that you won't take it?" He took a breath. "Oof… That crystal is my most prized possession…"

"I promise that I won't try to steal it or anything like that. I just want to show it to Emile," Dusknoir assured him.

Bidoof went silent for a moment, shivering slightly. The finally he stepped forward. "Okay. I-if it'll help us find the Time Gear…" He reached into his explorer bag with a trembling hand and brought out his pink crystal.

Dusknoir took it. "Thank you, Bidoof."

"Just out of curiosity, what do you want with my crystal, yup yup?" Bidoof asked.

"I want Emile to touch it," Dusknoir said simply.

_Oh! I get it. My Dimensional Scream could activate if I touched the crystal,_ I thought. _Then we might have a lead._

Unfortunately, not everyone knew what having me touch it would do. Looking around at everyone's confused faces, I realized that I hadn't told them about my Dimensional Scream.

"Hey, why do you want Emile to touch it?" Corphish asked.

"What'll that do?" Croagunk asked.

I looked at Jade. "You explain."

Jade quickly told everyone about my Dimensional Scream. She explained how if I touched certain objects, then I could see visions of events that happened in the past or will happen in the future.

"Oh my gosh! So you're like a psychic or something! That's soooo cool!" Sunflora exclaimed.

"Psychic? I don't like psychics," I said.

"Oh right. You're a Fighting type," Sunflora said, looking slightly embarrassed.

Dusknoir cleared his throat. "So, Emile. Are you ready?" He set the small pink crystal down on the ground in front of me.

I took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

For a moment, I just looked at the crystal. It was quite pretty, with its many shiny edges reflecting the faces of all of the guild apprentices. Then I picked it up.

Almost instantly my Dimensional Scream activated. The familiar dizzy feeling washed over me, and my vision went black.

_Here it comes… a Dimensional Scream…_

My vision took me to a corridor that was full of bright blue crystals. All around two figures, a deep lake splashed about. If I looked closely enough, I could see a green glow from the middle of the lake. But that wasn't the most interesting part.

I looked at the two figures in front of me, and my heart nearly stopped.

Grovyle was standing in front of a Pokémon that I didn't recognize. It looked similar to Uxie and Mesprit, with its small teal body and tails. Its head was cyan and diamond shaped, but its face…

One of its eyes was swollen shut. Its face and body was dotted with cuts and bruises, and it seemed to be struggling to breathe. It hovered only a few inches off the ground.

"Ugh… Ugggh…" the blue Pokémon groaned.

"Now I'll take it! The Time Gear!" Grovyle said, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"N-no… I won't let you take it… Never…" the fairy-like Pokémon said.

My vision flashed, and I was returned to the present time.

"Well, Emile? Did you see anything?" Dusknoir asked.

I told everyone about my vision. Everyone looked quite troubled to find out that in my vision Grovyle was about to steal the Time Gear.

"…So that's what happened," I concluded.

"Gawrsh! You got all that from such a tiny crystal?" Bidoof said, taking back his pink gem.

"Yep. Apparently," I said.

"Hey, you said that you saw a figure that was similar to Mesprit and Uxie, right?" Chimecho said.

"Yeah…" I said, not sure where Chimecho was going with this.

"Well, if Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit are part of a trio…" Chimecho said.

"Are you saying that Pokémon may have been Azelf?" I asked.

"Who knows? It's a solid theory. Oh, and do you know if your vision was from the past, or in the future?" Chimecho asked.

Chimecho's question threw me off. The truth? I had no idea whether I was shown a vision of the past or the future. Before, I had just kind of guessed at when it had happened.

I shook my head. "I don't know. Sorry," I said.

"If that's the case… your vision could've been a past event. The Time Gear may have already been stolen," Dugtrio said sadly.

"Well, you're Mr. Cheerful," Jade grumbled.

"Perhaps… Or perhaps not," Dusknoir said suddenly.

"What makes you say that?" Corphish asked.

"Team Aura said that Mesprit knew about the Time Gear theft because Uxie alerted her with his telepathy, right?" he asked, looking at Jade.

"Yeah," Jade said, nodding.

"Did she mention anything about Azelf?" he asked.

"Um, no…" Jade said.

Dusknoir smiled. "Then there's still hope! Chances are, if Azelf's Time Gear was stolen, then he would contact Mesprit. Since Mesprit didn't mention him, it's possible that the Time Gear is safe!"

Jade perked up. "You're right! There's still hope!"

"Dusknoir's knowledge saved us again!" Croagunk said.

Dusknoir smiled modestly. "It was nothing."

Jade looked at me. "So if we go to Crystal Cave, then we might find a Time Gear! That's good!"

"But… if Emile's vision is correct, then Grovyle would eventually find that Time Gear. So if we want to protect the Time Gear, we have to move out now," Dusknoir said.

"Okay!" I said.

"So all of you! Get ready! We're going to Crystal Cave! YOOM… TAH!" Wigglytuff said.

"HOORAY!" we all said happily.

And so, Jade and I climbed up the ladder to go to Treasure Town to prepare for our adventure to Crystal Cave. We made a quick visit to the Kecleon Shop, the Kangaskhan Storage, and the Duskull Bank and picked up Ani-Chan and Sparky. With the Budew and Elekid in in tow, we departed for Crystal Cave.

Using our Wonder Map, we found the cave, which was tucked right behind a large mountain range. The entrance to Crystal Cave looked like a geode: a hard, dull rock on the outside, and stunningly bright crystals on the inside.

"Whoa! That's so cool!" I said, peering into the cave. "There are so many crystals in there!"

"Just wait until we go into the cave. There'll be crystals out the wazoo!" Jade said.

I looked deep into Crystal Cave, the shining crystals winking at me.

"Okay. Let's go see some crystals." And without further conversation, we walked into the cave of crystals.

The cave was rather tricky. Many new Pokémon such as Seviper and Wormadam leapt out at us from every angle. I struggled a little with the Sevipers, as they were resistant to my Force Palm. But occasionally I'd get a lucky break and run into a Graveler, which was weak to Force Palm.

Jade was having the time of her life, using her Grass type moves to defeat pretty much any Ground type enemy in the cave.

On the fifth floor I found a small brownish CD on the ground. A TM. The TM had a label that said **Brick Break** in bold letters.

"Cool, dude. You found a TM," Sparky said.

"Ooh! What TM is it?" Ani-Chan asked.

"Brick Break," I said, reading the label.

"Brick Break! Cool! I think you can use it!" Sparky said.

"But how do I use this?"

"Put it on your forehead," Jade said.

I picked it up and put it on my forehead, sure I looked like an idiou, and suddenly I felt a strange power wash over me. I felt as though I could crush a rock with my bare hands. I took a deep breath and clenched my fists.

The strange feeling subsided, and I was suddenly confused. "Um… What just happened?" I asked.

"You learned Brick Break, smart one," Jade said. "You can use Brick Break alongside all your other moves now."

"Cool." I looked down at the TM that was in my paws and found that it was colored a dull gray. Just seconds ago it was a light brown color.

"That's a used TM. Used TMs can't be used by anyone anymore," Jade said.

"So do I just—"

"Just put it down."

I followed her instructions, and after a brief pause, we set out again.

Brick Break was a very useful move. It pierced through my enemy's defense and left them defeated on the floor. Even Sevipers fell easily.

As we forged deeper and deeper into Crystal Cave, I noticed that the crystals got larger and more plentiful. I could barely resist the urge to pick up a crystal and take it back to the guild.

On the eleventh floor the crystals were shining brighter than ever before. Green greens, rosy reds, and clear crystals winked at me.

"They're all so pretty!" I said, entranced by their beauty.

Jade sighed. "If you weren't so distracted by those stupid crystals, you would notice that we're right by the stairs!"

I tore my eyes away from the gems that were decorating the walls and found that Jade was right; we were standing in front of the stairs.

"Oh. Sorry," I apologized.

"Just shut your mouth and go down the stairs," Jade said, anger playing in her voice.

"Don't be so mean to Emile!" Ani-Chan said indignantly.

Jade was silent.

I trudged down the stairs, the rest of the team following close behind.

When we got to the bottom, we were met with an awe-inspiring sight. We were in a small room with soft bluish grass at our feet. Tiny blue crystals sprouted up from the ground like weeds. There was a Kangaskhan Rock to our left. But the most dominating feature was three huge crystals, one green, one orange, and one red, which were arranged in a triangle.

"Holy schist, this is…" Jade said.

"So weird…" I breathed.

I approached the crystals and took a good look at them. They resembled the trapped crystal at the end of Waterfall Cave, but these were much bigger. They towered over us like huge monoliths.

Jade walked up to the crystal to the left of me. "This is so pretty!" She examined it for a moment, and then she put her hand on it.

A very strange thing happened. The crystal shone white, and when Jade pulled her hand away, it stopped shining. But now it was purple instead of green. She touched it again and it turned to a deep blue color.

"Wah! It changed colors!" Jade exclaimed, stepping back.

"That's so curious!" I said.

"Yeah…" Jade looked closely at the crystal. "Hmm… Maybe… Emile! I think these huge crystals are clues!"

"Clues?"  
"Clues to find the Time Gear, genius," Jade sighed.

"Ooh! A Time Gear?" Ani-Chan asked excitedly.

"DO YOU HAVE TO QUESTION EVERYTHING I SAY?!" Jade roared at the poor Budew.

Ani-Chan squeaked.

"Anyway, try touching one of the crystals, Emile!" Jade said. "I bet they all change colors!"

I walked up to a red crystal. It towered over me, its deep red surface gleaming brightly. I put a hand on it. It began to shine brightly, and when I removed my hand, the crystal turned a bright canary yellow. I touched it again, and it turned orange.

_Man! That's so weird…_

It got even weirder when my vision suddenly began to blur. _Oh boy. A Dimensional Scream._

My vision went completely black, and instead of a vision, I heard a very familiar voice.

"I see… Of the three spiritual elements of knowledge, emotion, and willpower… Azelf is the Being of Willpower. Willpower is the motivation that drives us. It's a unifying power. To unify is to make one. So if the color of the crystals were made one… The path should reveal itself. What is the color of Azelf's spirit? That is the question. Azelf lives at Crystal Lake. Then Azelf's spirit must be affected by the crystals…"

I was suddenly brought back to reality by some playful laughing.

Ani-Chan was touching a crystal, making it change colors like a rainbow strobe light. Sparky was trying to corral Ani-Chan, and Jade was standing in front of an unmanned crystal, tilting her head thoughtfully.

I walked away from my crystal and rounded up Jade, Ani-Chan, and Sparky.

"Okay, team. So I just had a vision through my Dimensional Scream—"

"Your Dimensional—" Ani-Chan was stopped thanks to Sparky, who had shocked her with a small jolt of electricity.

"Jade will explain later. Just listen. Okay. In my vision, this voice said something about willpower, and Azelf's spirit, and unifying crystals…"

I stopped and realized that I hadn't really taken in what the voice had said.

_It was just speaking too fast!_ I thought, looking down at my paws.

"Um… Emile?" Jade said.

"Look. I may be wrong, but I think that we need to make the crystals one color."

_But what color do they need to be? That voice mentioned something about Azelf's spirit… Think. What do I know about Azelf?_

I thought back to when I had my Dimensional Scream about Grovyle confronting the small fairy-like Pokémon.

_Dusknoir said that little fairy thing could be Azelf… What does Azelf look like?_

I thought hard about what the Pokémon looked like. Its body was similar to Uxie's and Mesprit's: small, teal, two long tails. Then I thought about its head. It was shaped sort of like a diamond… It had a red gem in it… It was a deep blue…

_That's it! Blue is the color of Azelf's spirit! _I called the team back together.

"We need to change all the crystals blue. Then we'll be able to proceed!" I said.

Jade looked at a towering crystal, which was colored blue. "Well then! Get to work, guys! Turn all the crystals blue!"

Ani-Chan skipped off to one crystal, which was now pink. I walked up to the other crystal, which was yellow. I placed my paw on it, and it turned green. Then it turned red. Then it turned blue—

Drat! I had accidentally put my hand on it once again, and it turned from blue to purple.

_Idiot. Pay attention to the colors of the crystals next time._

I eventually turned it blue again, and a cry from Ani-Chan revealed to me that her crystal had turned blue as well.

"Okay. Now something is gonna happen. Stand back, guys," I said.

We backed up to the Kangaskhan Rock and waited for something to happen. We waited for five seconds… Ten seconds… I could almost hear the crickets chirping.

Then, quite suddenly, the ground began to shake. The blue crystals began to glow.

"Wah! What the—" Jade yelled over the noise.

Streams of blue electricity shot from the tips of the crystals. The electricity flew to the middle of the small cavern, forming a sort of electric ball in the air.

The rumbling got more intense as the ball of electricity got larger.

"What is going on?" I screamed.

Out of the ground, a huge thing rose up, crackling with electricity. It rose up to the ball of electricity, and the rumbling finally stopped.

In between the three blue crystals, a huge opaque crystal stood. It was even bigger than the blue crystals that changed color. Right in the middle of it was a large, jagged opening.

"Whoa." That was all I could say. Then again, seeing a huge crystal rise out of the ground could really take your breath away. "The crystal… There's an opening in it…"

"Shall we go into that?" Ani-Chan asked.

"Yeah. The Time Gear could be in there," Jade said.

"Okay. Let's go protect a Time Gear," I said.

I quickly walked over to the Kangaskhan Rock to my left and switched out my items. Once we were prepared, we set off into the huge crystal.

XxX

**I'm sure there's a better way to use TMs out there. Putting a TM on your forehead and magically learning the move? That's just weird. But I'm a weird kind of person. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be up in a matter of minutes. Ah, the wonders of technology!**


	22. Chapter 21: Crystal Crossing

**Technology is wonderful! You can post a new chapter to a mediocre story and have the new chapter be viewable to the public within MINUTES! Wow!**

**Anyway, this isn't a chapter about the wonders of technology, this is a chapter about Team Aura's adventure through Crystal Crossing. Enjoy.**

Chapter 21: Crystal Crossing

Crystal Crossing was radically different from Crystal Cave. For one, it was full of water. It was also full of water types. The occasional Floatzel would challenge us only to go down at the hands of Jade's Mega Drain. But Jade didn't always have the upper hand.

Many Ice type Glalies appeared, and Jade could hardly do a thing to them. I'd have to step in and dispatch the Ice types for her.

Many Grass type Wormadams appeared as well. Jade was at somewhat of a stalemate when it came to fighting them: her attacks wouldn't do much to hurt the Pokémon, but the Wormadam's attacks wouldn't do much to hurt Jade. For that reason, I had to handle most of the dirty work.

On the seventh floor, Sparky somehow got sidetracked and ended up wandering away from us. I had a Rollcall Orb in my bag, but I wanted to save that for an emergency. So we just waited for a little while, hoping the Elekid would come back.

But he never did. At one point we heard a cry of pain that we recognized as Sparky's. We rushed to his rescue, but when we found him, he didn't look too good.

He was lying on the ground, taking big, rasping breaths. His arms clutched his chest, and we noticed with faint horror that he had angry-looking claw marks all over his body.

"Sparky! Are you okay?" Ani-Chan asked.

"Urf… I'll live… But… This dungeon… urk!" He winced in pain.

"Okay, Sparky. We're gonna have to send you back to the guild, okay? Nothing personal. It's just… You're really hurt," I said.

"You just… noticed?" Sparky tried for a smile, but he couldn't really smile without groaning in pain.

"Just touch your Explorer Badge. It'll send you back home," Jade said.

With his last bit of energy, Sparky reached up to his badge and laid his hand on it. A column of light descended on him, and then he was gone. It was just me, Jade, and Ani-Chan.

A few floors later, Ani-Chan ran into some trouble as well. She got attacked by an Absol from behind, and no matter what she tried, the Absol still stood strong. In the end, the Absol got her, and we had to send her back to the guild as well.

"Find… that Time Gear… for me…" she breathed. She touched her Explorer Badge, and she too was gone.

"It's just you and me, Emile. Just like the old days," Jade said.

"Yep. Just like the old days…" I remembered our first adventure in Beach Cave. It was just the two of us against various sea life forms that wanted to kill us.

That seemed like forever ago, even though it was only about a month ago.

We continued through Crystal Crossing in silence, occasionally running into a hostile Pokémon that we'd defeat easily. Much like Crystal Cave, as we ventured further into the cave, the crystals grew prettier and brighter. By the tenth floor, the crystals were blindingly bright.

It was also getting rather chilly. Maybe it was because of all the Glalies. Maybe it was because we were getting deeper in the cave. Maybe…

I also noticed that my heart rate got faster. By the time we got to the thirteenth floor, my heart was pounding out of my chest.

_My heart is racing now! That's so weird… Wait. The last time I felt this was at Quicksand Cave… And at the bottom of Quicksand Cave was…_

But before I had time to think about it further, we came upon the stairs to the next floor.

I took a deep breath. My heart felt like it was ready to pop.

"Hey, Jade. Um… I think… Well, let's be careful, okay? I think there's something down these stairs…" I said.

"Yeah, yeah. All right. You're the one who should be careful, Emile," Jade said.

I didn't really respond to that. I took another deep breath and walked down the stairs.

We emerged in a huge corridor with walls lined with crystals. The floor was also made of blue crystals. The ceiling was high, so high up that when we looked up we couldn't even see the roof of this place. We could only see darkness above us.

But the real showstopper was the huge lake in front of us. It was even bigger than Fogbound Lake and Mesprit's underground lake. Crystal clear water made small waves that splashed against the small peninsula that we had emerged on. In the center of the lake, there was some sort of island. Right beside the island was a soft green glow. I fixed my eyes upon the glow, and my heart nearly exploded.

"Holy Arceus…" Jade said.

"This is—" But before I could finish my sentence, I heard someone shout from the island. I gasped. "If that is who I think it is, then we're in trouble."

Jade clenched her fists. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

I took another deep breath and looked at the clear water. "You really need to learn how to swim, because I think that's the only way to that island."

But Jade was already swimming (or rather should I say, flailing) to the island. I followed her, swimming as quickly as I could.

As we approached the island, I could start making something out. It looked like a lean, green lizard thing.

_Grovyle…_

And then we were at the island.

We climbed onto the island, and now I could clearly see Grovyle. He had his back turned to us, and in front of him was…

A small fairy-looking Pokémon with a blue head hovered in the air. I recognized it as the Pokémon I saw in my Dimensional Scream vision. If my assumptions were correct, that Pokémon was Azelf.

Azelf looked very hurt. One of its eyes was swollen shut. Its body was a mangled mess of wounds. One of its arms was twisted at a nasty-looking angle, and its breathing was ragged and short.

_This… I saw this in my vision! So it DID happen in the future… Lucky us._

"Ugh… Ugggh…" Azelf groaned.

"Now I'll take it! The Time Gear!" Grovyle said, a hint of smugness in his voice.

"N-no… I won't let you take it… Never…" Azelf grunted.

"Save your breath, Azelf," Grovyle said grimly.

"No… Never… I… I simply refuse to let you take it…" Azelf said.

I looked at Jade and noticed the unmistakable panic in her eyes.

"That's Azelf? Oh no! He's in trouble!" Jade said, her voice trembling slightly.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go help him!" I said.

We raced forward as Grovyle approached the water. He got ready to dive…

But Azelf wasn't going to give up so easily. He had a trump card, a last resort of sorts.

"The others… They told me you were coming…" Azelf groaned.

Grovyle stopped. "You… You know about me?" he asked. He was thrown slightly by this statement.

"Y-yes… And… I have prepared… a fail-safe…"

"Shut up! You're just talking gibberish now!" Grovyle said.

But Azelf's comment about a "fail-safe" certainly got Grovyle on edge. His large yellow eyes darted around, scanning for a trap.

Azelf chuckled a little, even though the effort made him wince. His eyes glowed gold and the ground began to shake.

Jade and I tumbled over each other as a result of the rumbling. Grovyle swayed for a second, but he grabbed a nearby crystal and steadied himself.

"Azelf! What is this?" he demanded.

Azelf didn't respond, but the answer became suddenly clear to him.

In front of him, huge jagged crystals erupted from the lake, creating a barrier between him and the green glow of the Time Gear.

"Wha—" Grovyle said in shock, stumbling back from the crystals.

"You're not getting the Time Gear… I'll protect it to my last breath…" Azelf's injuries overtook him, and he collapsed to the ground.

Grovyle's excitement turned to anger. "Azelf! I need the Time Gear! I need it!" he yelled.

"No! You don't need it!" Jade said bravely, stepping up to the Grass type. I summoned all my courage and followed her.

Grovyle looked at us. "Humph! A Riolu and a Chikorita! How cute. And you two want to stop me?"

"We won't let you take it!" I said fiercely.

For a brief moment, I saw a very peculiar look on Grovyle's face.

Grovyle looked… like he recognized me somehow… I haven't heard of this Pokémon until now… How could he have recognized me?

But his face was quickly wiped of emotion.

"Both of you. Do me a favor and move now," Grovyle said with deceptive calmness.

"NO!" Jade and I said simultaneously.

Grovyle sighed. "Fine. If you won't move, I'll have to make you move." He raised his hands, his fingers curled into fists.

I braced myself for a fight. "Here he comes, Jade," I whispered.

Grovyle charged at us, and the battle began.

Jade started off with Razor Leaf, which barely fazed Grovyle. It did catch him off-guard, and I took that moment to charge at Grovyle and use my newly-acquired Brick Break on him. Brick Break did more damage, but Grovyle didn't seem too hurt.

The Wood Gecko Pokémon backed up until he was a few feet away from me. Then he lunged forward, using Quick Attack to hit me.

_Well, if you're gonna Quick Attack me, I'll Quick Attack you back,_ I thought. I clenched my fists and sped towards him, countering his Quick Attack with my own. Grovyle was quite shocked to find that I knew Quick Attack, and so he decided to go for the more direct approach.

He walked up to me, and it really struck me how small I was. Grovyle towered about half a foot over me. He wasn't that much taller than me, but I still did feel as though I was fighting a giant.

Jade used Tackle, which hurt him much more than Razor Leaf. I used Force Palm on him, and he gasped.

"You two are tough…" Grovyle said. He suddenly lunged out at me with the leaves on his arms. They seemed to turn from flimsy leaves to sharp weapons as they hit me. I fell down to the ground, panting.

"No!" Jade said. Her eyes burned with a strange fire that I'd never seen before. She Tackled Grovyle, which bought me just enough time to struggle up. I used Bite, which caused him to cringe in pain. Jade and I saw a chance to attack, and we took it.

Grovyle didn't stand a chance when Jade and I hit him with Tackle and Force Palm.

The lizard crumpled to the ground defeated. "Urk… You may have defeated me… But I will get that Time Gear!" he said savagely.

"Not while we're standing!" I said.

"Oh yeah? Well, what if you're not standing?" Before we could respond to that, Grovyle struck us with his hands. He was much too strong for us, and we collapsed instantly.

The blow didn't knock me out, but it blinded me and immobilized me. The only thing I could do was wait…

"Now… I'll finish you two meddlers off!" he said. I felt something tower over me, and I braced myself for the end to come.

But before Grovyle could finish us off, I heard a strange noise. The blow didn't come.

"No! I will not let you harm these two!" a voice roared. Relief flooded me. The voice belonged to Dusknoir.

"Dusknoir. I see you've come here to try to stop me." Grovyle's voice trembled slightly when he spoke, almost as if he were afraid of Dusknoir.

"And I will stop you this time." That sentence intrigued me. _What does he mean by this time? Have Dusknoir and Grovyle met before?_

"Humph. If you want to fight me, then go right ahead. You will lose," Grovyle said.

"Oh, I will fight you. And YOU'LL be the one to lose!" Dusknoir bellowed.

Before Grovyle could respond, there was a flash of light that even my blinded eyes could see…

"Curses! He's gone!" Dusknoir said. He took a moment to curse Grovyle out. There was an odd noise, and the cave went silent.

_What just happened? Dusknoir… He sounded like he knew Grovyle before…_ I felt my mind slowly slipping away, dropping me into unconsciousness. _No… I can't… hold on… Drifting… off…_

The last thing I heard before I passed out was someone calling my name.

XxX

I awoke to the soft ring of a bell. My body dully ached, and as I slowly sat up, my joints creaked and groaned. When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry.

"Urk… Where…?" I asked. I blinked, and my vision became clear again. I found that I was in our room at the Wigglytuff Guild. Chimecho was in front of us. Jade was passed out on her bed of straw next to me.

I gently nudged her. "Um… Jade?"

Jade suddenly sat up and said something unintelligible that sounded like "FreeallthePokémon!" She looked around. "Um… We're at the guild?"

"Yep. I guess after we passed out the guild members found us," I said.

"That's exactly what happened," Chimecho confirmed.

"But… Azelf? Is he okay?" Jade asked.

"Azelf's fine. His injuries weren't too bad. He's in the guild right now," Chimecho said.

Jade sighed. "Whew! That's a relief."

"It's an even bigger relief to know that you two are okay!" Chimecho said.

"HEY CHIMECHO! Are they up yet?" Loudred called.

"Yeah! They're up!" Chimecho called back.

What followed was a stampede of our fellow guild members. Loudred, Sunflora, Bidoof, Corphish, and Croagunk all appeared. Diglett and Dugtrio stuck their heads above ground a second later. Everyone seemed so happy to hear that we were okay.

"Gawsh! I thought that Grovyle had done you in!" Bidoof said, his eyes teary with emotion.

"Oh my gosh! I'm soooo happy you two are okay!" Sunflora squealed.

"Hey hey! You two stood up to Grovyle and… survived? Hey hey!" Corphish said, sounding quite astounded.

"Yeah. We apparently did," I said wearily.

"So did you find anything?" Croagunk asked.

"Boy did we. How about we get the guild assembled? Then we'll tell you," I said.

"Okay!" Diglett said.

We were ushered into the main room by all of the guild members. Wigglytuff, Chatot, and Azelf were waiting for us.

"Azelf! You're okay!" Jade said.

"Yep. I'm fine. My wounds weren't that severe," Azelf said.

But before Azelf and Jade could continue their conversation, Wigglytuff walked up to us, his tiny arms up in the air.

"Yay! Friendly friends! You're okay!" Wigglytuff cheered.

"We are quite relieved to hear that you are okay," Chatot said.

"You guys…" Jade's eyes were shining with emotional tears.

I stiffened and tried to ignore Jade's soft crying. "We have a lot to tell you."

Jade and I took turns explaining what happened in Crystal Cave and in Crystal crossing. Azelf also helped us out a little when we got to the part about the underground lake. It didn't happen too long ago, but my brain was so foggy that it seemed like it had happened forever ago.

"…And so that's what happened," I concluded.

Everyone was looking at me, taking my words in. Then finally, everyone began to talk at once.

The chatter was interrupted quite suddenly by a piercing alarm. Diglett suddenly burrowed up from the Sentry Post.

"Everyone! Officer Magnemite has a special message for us!" Diglett said. He turned back to the Sentry Post and called down it. "Officer Magnemite! Speak loudly and clearly down the grate!"

"Zzzt! Deputy Magnezone has called a public meeting in the Treasure Town Square! He insists that everyone must attend! Not just the guild members! That is all! Zzzt!" Magnemite called.

The babble broke out again.

"Oh my gosh! What could possibly be going on?" Sunflora said.

"Hey! Maybe it's information about Grovyle! Hey hey!" Corphish said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go see what's up," I said.

We all raced out of the guild, eager to hear what announcement Magnemite had to say.

XxX

**DRAMATICAL DEATH SCENES ARE DRAMATICAL. (I know dramatical isn't a word)**


	23. Chapter 22: Planet's Paralysis

**We're almost to the good part...**

Chapter 22: Planet's Paralysis

We arrived in the Treasure Town Square a few minutes later and found that every resident of Treasure Town was there. Dusknoir, Magnezone, and two of his Officer Magnemites were at the front of the crowd. Ani-Chan and Sparky were in the back of the crowd, waving at us. We were about to join them when we saw Uxie and Mesprit in the group.

"Uxie! Mesprit!" I said, walking over to greet them.

"Why, hello there, Emile," Mesprit said.

"Have you kept quiet about my secret?" Uxie asked.

"We have, but it doesn't change the fact that your Time Gear was stolen," I said.

"Anyway, are you feeling better?" Jade asked.

"Yep," Mesprit said.

"We're feeling better than ever," Uxie said. "How's Azelf doing?"

"How about you ask me?" It was Azelf.

Azelf floated over to Uxie and Mesprit. "And for the record, I'm doing fine as well."

"Oh, Azelf!" Mesprit said.

"We're so glad you're safe!" Uxie said.

"I'm not the only one who's safe. My Time Gear is safe as well," Azelf said.

"That's quite fortunate." Dusknoir had floated over to us and joined our conversation.

"Hey, Dusknoir? I've been meaning to ask you… Back in Crystal Lake, when you were talking to Grovyle… It sounded like you knew him from before. So… Have you two met before?" Jade asked.

But before we could continue our conversation, Deputy Magnezone, who was standing on front of the crowd, cleared his throat.

"ZZZT! Hello, residents of Treasure Town and apprentices of Wigglytuff's Guild. ZZZT!" he said.

There were murmurs of "Hello, Magnezone," from the crowd.

"ZZZT! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

"We didn't even have a choice," Jade whispered.

"ZZZT! As I'm sure you all know, lately a thief named Grovyle has been stealing Time Gears! While this is quite alarming, I am pleased to tell you that thanks to Azelf's ingenious trap, the last Time Gear is still in its place! ZZZT!"

The crowd cheered and laughed and congratulated Azelf on his plan.

Once the cheering died down, Magnezone opened his mouth to speak. However, he was politely interrupted by Dusknoir.

"Ahem. May I take it from here?" he asked.

"ZZZT! Yes! Of course, great Dusknoir sir! ZZZT!" Magnezone hovered out of the way as Dusknoir stepped up to take his place.

"Citizens of Treasure Town! While we are quite happy that Azelf's fail-safe plan has worked, Grovyle is still at large. He will not stop doing his horrible deeds until the last Time Gear is stolen," Dusknoir said.

Dusknoir took a deep breath.

"Earlier, Jade asked me the following question, 'Have you known Grovyle from before'? And the answer is yes. I do know Grovyle. I also know why he is doing what he's doing."

"Where do you know him from?" a Seedot asked.

Dusknoir paused for a moment, a curious expression on his face. "What I am about to tell you may be beyond your belief. But I assure you, it is the truth. Furthermore, if what I reveal isn't stopped, calamity will ensue! Please. I must ask you to believe me, no matter how far-fetched it may seem."

"We'll believe you," Jade said.

Dusknoir took another deep breath. Then he spoke the most shocking words I had heard since I turned into a Pokémon. "Grovyle… is a Pokémon from the future."

His words sent a shock through the crowd. Everyone gasped. Some Pokémon looked worried. Some were gaping at Dusknoir unable to believe him.

Diglett turned to his father, Dugtrio, and asked, "Daddy? What does he mean by 'from the future'?"

"I think he means… Grovyle comes from a period of time that is yet to happen," Dugtrio responded.

"How is that POSSIBLE?" Loudred asked.

Dusknoir looked frantically at the crowd. "Everyone! Please listen!" The crowd stopped babbling and looked at the great gray ghost.

"Excuse me, Dusknoir, sir? Why does Grovyle want to steal the Time Gears?" Seedot asked.

"Grovyle is… a notorious criminal in the future," Dusknoir said. "He has a very large bounty on his head, and he will do anything to avoid being captured. So he fled to the past and… came up with a terrible plan."

"What was his plan?" Chatot asked.

"It was nothing less than… causing the planet's paralysis," Dusknoir said darkly.

"The planet's… paralysis?" Chatot repeated.

"What's THAT?" Loudred asked.

"If a planet becomes paralyzed… all movement upon it ceases. You all know that when a Time Gear is removed, time stops in that region. As more are taken, the flow of time stops in an ever-growing area. Eventually the planet's flow slows down so much that it just… stops."

"And… what happens if a planet is paralyzed?" Teddiursa asked.

Dusknoir paused for a moment. "If the planet is paralyzed… The wind doesn't blow… The day never comes… The seasons don't come… There's nothing but darkness… It would be the complete ruin of the world."

His words were absorbed by all of us. I, for one, couldn't believe what Dusknoir said about the planet's paralysis.

"S-so… Grovyle… wants to do that? He wants to… basically bring Doomsday upon all of us?" Jade said fearfully.

"Precisely," Dusknoir said.

There was a tense silence following Dusknoir's story. After what seemed like an hour of silence, Corphish spoke up.

"Hey hey! Dusknoir, there's something I don't understand about this," he said.

Dusknoir looked at him, a curious expression on his face. "Hm? What is it, Corphish?"

"How is it that you know all this stuff?"

Dusknoir hesitated. I could tell that we were getting close to a sensitive subject. When the pause became too long, Corphish looked down. "I mean, I know you're wise and smart and stuff, but… how come you know Grovyle's intentions and all that?"

The ghost turned to Corphish, a thoughtful look on his face. "That's a very good question, Corphish. It makes perfect sense." Dusknoir looked at us all. "Under normal circumstances, it would be true: I wouldn't know about such things. So why do I know all this?"

I could've sworn, for half a second, Dusknoir's single red eye focused on me.

"It's because… I too… am a Pokémon from the future."

I gasped. I wasn't the only one.

Pretty much everyone else gasped and looked at Dusknoir with various expressions of shock. Then we all voiced what was on our minds.

"WHAT?!"

Dusknoir looked down at his hands. "My friends… I'm so sorry for not revealing my identity sooner… It's just… You wouldn't have believed me if I told you right away, would you?"

"No…" Jade said.

"Yes… I'm so sorry for keeping my identity a secret," Dusknoir apologized.

Chatot flapped his wings. "Oh, don't be sorry, great Dusknoir! You had no choice!"

"ZZZT! Dusknoir has done nothing wrong!" Magnezone chipped in. "We should be venting our anger out on Grovyle! ZZZT!"

"YEAH!" everyone agreed.

"I'd love to help!" Chimecho said.

"Count me in! Meh-heh-heh!" Croagunk said.

"I'll help as well, yup yup!" Bidoof said.

Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit stepped forward. "We'll cooperate as well," Uxie said.

"I refuse to remain a victim!" Mesprit said defiantly.

"We won't let him steal another one!" Azelf said bravely.

Dusknoir looked at all of us, looking us over. "Everyone… thank you for your cooperation. We will all need to join together to stop Grovyle and put an end to his catastrophic plot."

"YEAH!" we cheered. Everyone began to talk about the situation at hand. The chatter continued for quite some time. While everyone was talking, I noticed that Dusknoir had struck up a conversation with Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit. They seemed to be concocting a plan.

Finally Dusknoir looked at all of us and held up his hand, demanding silence.

"The lake guardians and I have talked, and we have come up with a plan that will be sure to succeed…" Dusknoir said. He paused and looked around at the crowd, making sure that everyone was listening.

"Grovyle is very persistent. He will not rest until he gets all the Time Gears. Since he failed to steal this one, he will attempt to steal it again. So we know that Grovyle is gonna go back to Crystal Cave to finish what he started," Dusknoir explained. He paused again.

"Here's the plan: we're going to spread a rumor that Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit have returned to Crystal Lake. However, Grovyle will not go by rumor alone… So the lake guardians must actually return to Crystal Lake. But they're not the only ones who will be at the lake.

"We'll also be waiting there. And if Grovyle takes the bait, then we'll swoop in and capture him!"

Dusknoir's plan was met with applause and cries of vengeance to Grovyle.

"Yes… While this is quite the trap, it does mean that Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit will be placed in great danger…" Dusknoir said.

"I'd like nothing more!" Mesprit said confidently.

"It's a risk we're willing to take," Uxie said bracingly.

"Very good!" Dusknoir said.

Everyone began to talk about who was going to catch Grovyle when Dusknoir cleared his throat.

"While I am glad that all of you are willing to help, I think that I should exploit this plan myself," Dusknoir said.

"WHAT?" we cried.

"See, if all of you guys were to join me on this plan, then Grovyle would know something's up…" Dusknoir said. "I'm quite sorry for my selfishness."

"No, no, no! That's quite all right, Dusknoir sir!" Chatot said. "We understand. It would be quite risky for all of us to join you."

"You do have a very large part in the plan, though. Spread the rumor that the lake guardians have returned to Crystal Lake, and hope that it reaches Grovyle's ears. Then, when Grovyle comes… we'll be waiting. Understood?" Dusknoir asked.

"Yeah!" was the response.

"Very good! Now, you are dismissed." Dusknoir waved his large hand, and our assembly broke up.

XxX

"…And that's where it stands now," Chatot concluded. We had returned to the guild, where Chatot and Wigglytuff had quickly recapped our plan. "Crystal Cave will be temporarily closed while this operation is carried out. But other than that, work will continue normally. Just do your usual jobs… and spread the rumor whenever possible. Understood?"

"Understood," we said.

"Good! Now, get to work," Chatot said.

We wordlessly dispersed to our workplaces and began to do our usual jobs.

XxX

**Just because I'm evil, I'm gonna make you wait for the next chapter, which is the most interesting in my opinion. I'm so evil.  
**


	24. Chapter 23: Oh No!

**ZOMG SUPER ULTRA MEGA SPOILERZ**

**I would not recommend reading past this chapter if you don't want spoilers out the wazoo. But if you DO want spoilers out the wazoo, read on...**

Chapter 23: Oh No!

The next few days were devoted to stocking up on items. We only had two Oran Berries and one Reviver Seed, and you just never know when things might go wrong.

Now, looking back on it, I'm glad that we stocked up on items when we did.

Two nights after Dusknoir's announcement, I had been thinking about the future where Dusknoir lived. I had always pictured the future similar to the world of today: bright, sunny, full of life.

_It must be a wonderful place to live…_

The next day, Chatot brought us up to speed about the Grovyle situation.

"I'm very sorry, but we have not received word on Grovyle or Dusknoir. While no news is certainly good news, it also means that we're completely in the dark about the situation."

Chatot's briefing was met with boos and protest. I noticed that for whatever reason, Diglett wasn't in the crowd.

"Now now! We must be patient. I'm sure news of Grovyle's capture will come in due time…" No sooner had the words left Chatot's beak when an alarm suddenly rang out.

"Attention guild members!" Diglett's small voice called over from the Sentry Duty hole. "Officer Magnemite is here, and he would like to make an announcement!"

Jade gasped. "Could it be…? Did they catch Grovyle?" she asked, excitement in her tones.

Suddenly there was a stampede of guild members trying to get to the Sentry Duty hole to hear what Magnemite wanted to say.

"ZZZT! Hello, apprentices of Wigglytuff's Guild! It brings me great pleasure to inform you that Grovyle has been captured! ZZZT!" Magnemite said.

The small crowd exploded into cheers. Jade and I joined them.

"Woo hoo! That scumbag Grovyle's been captured!" Jade said, her face slightly red.

"Jade? You're blushing," I informed her.

Jade's face grew redder. "I am not blushing! I'm just—" But before she could complete her sentence, Magnemite spoke up again.

"ZZZT! However, Dusknoir has decided to return to the future with Grovyle. ZZZT!"

The cheers stopped almost immediately.

"ZZZT! He will be leaving town through something he calls a Dimensional Hole! I have no idea how it works, but he wishes to say goodbye before he leaves! He requests guild attendance! And that is all! ZZZT!" Magnemite said. Then his voice fell silent.

"I'm certainly glad they finally got Grovyle, but… I don't want Dusknoir to leave…" Jade said, her eyes lined with tears.

"Dusknoir should return to his home. It's where he belongs…" I said. I found that I was barely holding back tears myself. Dusknoir had been such a good friend… He'd saved our lives on multiple occasions… He'd told me all about my Dimensional Scream… He'd helped us so much… And now he had to go back to where he came from.

"Yeah. So… let's go say goodbye," Jade said sullenly.

And with a strange feeling of triumph and sadness upon us, we followed Wigglytuff and Chatot to Treasure Town.

When we got to Treasure Town, I noticed that the usually cheerful mood was subdued. Some of the Treasure Town residents were gathered in the Treasure Town Square, staring intently at something in the center of the square. I noticed with a slight shock that they were staring at something that looked like a black hole.

I stepped forward to it. Just being near it made my heart pound and my stomach churn uneasily. The hole almost seemed to be sucking me in like a vacuum.

"Urk… That… That's scary," I said, stepping away from the hole.

"ZZZT! It would be best for you to stay away from that hole! ZZZT!" Magnezone said suddenly.

"Why? What is it?" I asked.

"ZZZT! That is a Dimensional Hole! If you touch it, you'll be sent to the future! ZZZT!" Magnezone said.

"Oh," I responded meekly.

I went to rejoin Jade, who had struck up a conversation with Azelf, Uxie and Mesprit.

"How are you guys doing?" I asked.

"We're doing just fine!" Mesprit said.

"Heck, we're feeling better than ever!" Uxie said.

"So we heard that your trap worked! Is that true?"

"Yep. It was flawless. I have to hand it to Dusknoir. He was the one who did most of the work," Azelf said.

Jade coughed. "Speaking of Dusknoir…" She looked off to my right. I followed her gaze, and sure enough, Dusknoir was floating up to us.

Magnezone also noticed this and said to the crowd, "ZZZT! Make way! Dusknoir is coming! ZZZT!"

The crowd parted and made way for Dusknoir. Two Sableye were behind him, escorting Grovyle. Grovyle was trussed up in huge amounts of rope, so he couldn't move his arms or speak.

"Whoa! That's Grovyle?" the green Kecleon whispered to his purple twin.

"He sure looks like a bad Pokémon, all tied up like that," Bidoof whispered.

Dusknoir turned to face the crowd. The Sableye slapped Grovyle and made him face the crowd as well.

"Citizens of Treasure Town! I am pleased to inform you that Grovyle the Time Gear thief… has been captured!" Dusknoir said grandly.

Everyone began to cheer.

"Yes! Yes! Yay! Grovyle's been caught!" Jade said happily.

Grovyle's eyes flickered over to us. He struggled against his bonds and said something like, "Mmmph! MMMPH!"

"Sorry, not interested," Jade said coolly, looking away.

"He is a very evil Pokémon, as you can see… Luckily, we will send him back to the future, where he belongs! Sableye, if you would," Dusknoir said, looking at the Sableye.

"Wheh-heh-heh!" one of the Sableye snickered.

"Gotcha, boss!" the other one said.

The Sableye shoved Grovyle in front of the Dimensional Hole and kicked him in. With a final "MMMMMPH!" Grovyle disappeared into the portal. The two Sableye quickly followed.

Dusknoir's happy expression suddenly turned sad. His red eye dimmed, and his head hung. "However… Now I must return to my own time to deal with Grovyle."

The crowd's cheers and excitement turned sad instantly.

"Oogie… I hate sad goodbyes…" Sunflora said, tears pooling up in her eyes.

"Great Dusknoir… I'm so sad… There's so much I wanted to learn from you…" Bidoof said sadly.

Chatot's body seized up, and the next second he was sobbing.

Jade began to cry. "Wah… Dusknoir was so helpful…" I patted her shoulder.

"There, there. It'll be okay. Who knows? We might see him again someday." Jade took a deep breath, but she continued to sob.

Dusknoir ignored the sobs from everyone and turned to face the lake guardians. "Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit… I trust you know what to do now?"

"Yep," Mesprit said.

"Of course," Azelf said.

"We'll put the Time Gears back in their proper places," Uxie said.

"Good. Very good. And now… I must go." Dusknoir turned around to enter the portal, but then he suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh, I almost forgot…

"Before I leave, I need to see two very special Pokémon… Jade! And Emile!" Dusknoir said.

Jade jumped in surprised. "He means us, Emile."

We made our way up to the front of the crowd. "Dusknoir…" I choked, barely fighting back tears.

"Dusknoir… Is this really… goodbye?" Jade sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

"Yes, I'm afraid this is goodbye…" Dusknoir said sullenly.

He hesitated a little too long for my taste.

But then…

"…Or is it?"

Jade looked up. "What?"

The strange pattern on his stomach opened up like a mouth, and faster than you could blink, Dusknoir grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and Jade by the arm. Jade and I struggled, but Dusknoir's grip was too tight…

"It's too soon for goodbyes!" Dusknoir said savagely. "You two… are coming with me!"

Dusknoir backed up to the Dimensional Hole, dragging us with him. The portal swallowed us up.

As soon as I touched the portal, I felt as if my brain would pop. A blur of colors shot past us. I felt myself spinning around, but Dusknoir kept his hand firmly curled around my chest…

Everything was just too much for my brain to handle. After a minute of spinning around, I felt myself slowly losing consciousness.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Jade screamed, her voice distant and distorted.

Then everything went black.

XxX

_Ugh… Why… Dusknoir… He… _I struggled to consciousness for a brief moment. My head throbbed, my mouth was dry, and every inch of my body ached.

I tried to breathe in, but my stomach clenched up in pain and I slowly fell unconscious again. _No… I can't… I'm drifting off… again…_

I woke to the soft sound of someone sobbing. My body still ached and I had a small headache. I couldn't open my eyes, though I felt like I was on some sort of cold stone floor.

_Who… Where… What…_

But then, with a shock, I realized that it was Jade who was sobbing.

I tried to get up, but my joints wouldn't respond. The only thing I could do was open my dry mouth and moan. "Ugh."

Jade gasped. "E-Emile?!"

"Ugh… Jade?" I groaned.

"Oh, Emile… I'm so glad you're okay…" Jade said. I heard her walk over to me and lay her hand on my chest. My joints were freed, and I slowly sat up.

I opened my eyes and found that my vision was quite blurry. I could see a green shape, Jade, but everything else was gray.

I rubbed my eyes, and everything came into focus.

Jade was standing in front of me, her eyes red from crying. Behind her was a wall of rock.

I looked around, and found that we were in a sort of cave. But where the mouth of the "cave" should normally be, thick metal bars blocked us in.

"What the… Where… are—" I asked, unable to complete my sentences.

"Emile?" Jade said quietly.

"Yes?" I said.

"I think… we're in the future," Jade said.

"The—FUTURE?" I cried.

"Yeah… I think so…" Jade began to cry some more.

_What the… Why are we in the future? _I thought back to what happened before I woke up. My brain was so foggy that I had trouble remembering…

_Wait… I think Dusknoir… he, like, grabbed us and pulled us into the Dimensional Hole… But why? _

"Hey, Jade. It's okay. We'll figure this mystery out. We'll get out of here. It'll be fine," I assured her. "Say… Maybe I can break through the bars."

"I tried the bars… They won't open," Jade said gloomily.

"Those bars haven't met me yet." I walked up to the bars and looked them over. They were incredibly thick and tall, and they didn't look like they'd break easily. I shook them and found that they wouldn't even budge. Just as I expected.

"See? They won't open…" Jade said.

"Are you sure?" I shook the bars again, and they still wouldn't budge. I summoned all my strength and used Brick Break on them, but apparently Brick Break couldn't break bars. The bars weren't even dented.

"Okay, maybe they won't open," I said as I made my way back to Jade.

"How do you think this happened? I mean, I remember being in Treasure Town, and Dusknoir was about to leave through the Dimensional Hole, and then… he grabbed us… Is this really… the future?" Jade said, panic in her voice.

"But why did he drag us here? And why are we here?" I asked.

Before Jade could answer, though, the ground began to shake. The bars opened up, and four Sableye walked in, chuckling and grinning.

"Wheh-heh-heh! They're awake! How convenient!" one of the Sableye rasped.

"What are you—" Before I could finish, two Sableye jumped on me and tied a blindfold over my eyes.

"Wah! I can't see!" Jade cried.

"You're blindfolded too?" I asked.

Jade's response was a grunt; I suppose the Sableye had pushed her. I felt two pairs of hands push me from behind, and I stumbled forward.

"Oof! Ow!" I grunted.

"Hey! No need to push!" Jade protested.

"Shut up! Just walk forward!" a Sableye said.

The Sableye pushed me again, and we set off.

I didn't walk so much as I stumbled. It was impossible to see anything through my blindfold, and the Sableye didn't really help either.

Jade and I protested most of our journey_._

After maybe fifteen minutes of walking, the Sableye pinned my arms to my side and shoved me up against a wall. I grunted and tried to escape, but I found that I couldn't move.

Someone untied my blindfold, but they might have just left it on. All I could see was an endless expanse of darkness.

Then a bright spotlight shined off to my left, revealing a thick pillar with many ropes tied around it. I noticed something green was on it, and with a lurch of my stomach, I noticed that Jade was tied to the pillar.

"Wha—? Why am I tied up?" Jade exclaimed.

Another spotlight shined down on me, and I found that I too was tied up with a copious amount of rope.

"Whoa. I'm tied up too," I said. Jade gasped.

"E-Emile? Is that you?" she whispered.

"Yeah," I responded.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked.

"Yeah," I said again.

I could see Jade's face flush with relief. "Whew! I'm so glad that you're okay!"

Someone off to my right sighed. "Do you two fools even know how much trouble we're in?" A third spotlight shined to my right, and I saw another pillar with someone tied to it. And that someone was—

"Grovyle!" I gasped.

"Shh! Keep your voice low…" Grovyle hissed.

"Oh, excuse me, princess. Now where are we?" Jade demanded.

"This is a stockade… they want to get rid of us for good," Grovyle said.

"What?! Who would want to get rid of us? And why? I mean, I guess I could understand why someone would want to get rid of scum like _you_, but… why us?" Jade asked.

"Beats me," Grovyle said. He sounded almost bored.

"But we haven't done anything wrong! We're not like you!" Jade snapped.

Grovyle was about to answer when suddenly the whole room lit up, revealing seven Pokémon: six Sableye and…

"D-Dusknoir!" Jade stammered.

Dusknoir ignored her and began to mutter to the Sableye.

"Dusknoir sir! It's me! Jade!" Jade said. "What's going on?"

Dusknoir ignored her and continued to give orders to the Sableye.

"Begin your preparations. Ignore that Chikorita. She talks too much," Dusknoir said coldly.

_What's wrong with Dusknoir? He's suddenly evil… _Dread began to sink in my body, tighter than the ropes that tied me. _Was Dusknoir… just pretending to be nice? But… that's impossible! He was just too nice… _But I was suddenly shocked out of my thoughts by Jade trying to get an answer out of Dusknoir.

"Dusknoir! What—" Grovyle glared at her.

"Shut up! There's no point in trying to talk to them. Just keep your voice low so they can't hear you…" he said.

"Why should we trust you, criminal?" Jade hissed.

"Do you want to deal with those guys?" Grovyle said impatiently.

Jade didn't look too happy about it, but she grudgingly obliged.

"Now, those Sableye will probably try to attack us with Fury Swipes. They have incredibly sharp claws…" Grovyle said, looking at their hands.

Meanwhile, Dusknoir had finished giving orders to the Sableye.

"Get rid of them. Be ruthless. Don't take your eyes off them… Especially that Grovyle…" he said quietly.

"Wheh-heh-heh!" the Sableye snickered. Two Sableye approached me, and the other four went over to Jade and Grovyle.

"When they use Fury Swipes, their claws will slash the ropes… and then we'll break free…" Grovyle said. "But… after that… Hey! You in the middle!"

I gasped and turned to Grovyle. His large yellow eyes were fixed on me. "What can you do?"

"What can I do?" I repeated.

"How would you get rid of them?" Grovyle said.

"Get rid of Pokémon? I would attack them…" I said.

Grovyle considered that for half a second. Then he sat up like he'd just gotten a revelation. "That's it! Once they slash the ropes, then we'll attack them. Good job, Riolu."

The Sableye inched closer…

"But… what if their Fury Swipes don't slash the ropes?" Jade said tremulously. "And… what if… they don't even use Fury Swipes…?"

Grovyle gritted his teeth. "Don't even think about it."

The Sableye were only a few feet away from us now…

"Now! Attack!" Dusknoir commanded suddenly.

"Wheh-heh-heh!" the Sableye snickered.

Faster than you could blink, the Sableye pounced on us and began to strike us with their claws. They were indeed quite sharp, and in a matter of seconds, my body was scratched and bleeding.

"Endure it! Just a little longer!" Grovyle yelled.

"If this keeps going, I won't last!" Jade screamed.

A few seconds of agony later, though, I felt the ropes that bound me loosen just a little. I looked down, and sure enough, there was a small break in the ropes. As the Sableye continued to slice, the break got bigger.

"Guys! There's a break in the ropes!" I yelled.

"Same here!" Jade cried.

The break in the ropes was now wide enough for me to escape through…

"Now! Attack!" Grovyle grunted.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jade, Grovyle and I lashed out at the Sableye, breaking through our bonds. We tackled them down, and the Sableye recoiled.

"No! You idiots! Finish them!" Dusknoir roared. The Sableye regained their bearings and prepared to strike us again…

Grovyle reached into a brown explorer bag similar to ours and pulled out a yellow Wonder Orb. "Take THIS!" he said fiercely. He threw the Wonder Orb down to the ground, where it shattered and burst into a bright light that blinded me.

"Wha! I can't see! I can't—" But then a hand clamped over my mouth.

"Quiet!" Grovyle hissed in my ear. Then another hand grabbed me and threw me down to the ground. Then I felt something that felt like dirt fall on top of me, and everything went silent.

_It feels like I've been buried underground, _I thought. _Ugh… Of course. I am buried underground. Great._

I waited in my little underground chamber for a minute while Dusknoir and his Sableye talked. I heard footsteps above me, and then everything was quiet.

A hand reached through the dirt and grabbed my arm, pulling me up from my dirt hole. I found that Grovyle had helped me up. He went over to a pile of loose dirt and reached down, pulling Jade up from the earth.

"Bleah! I got dirt in my mouth!" Jade said, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "Also, you know a lot of moves. I've never met a Grovyle that knows Dig."

_Huh. So Grovyle knows Dig? He sure knows a lot of moves… _

"I suppose that I should take that as a compliment. Anyway, we should get going," Grovyle said.

"Oh no, mister! We aren't leaving until you explain what's going on!" Jade said firmly.

"Look, if we stick around here, the Sableye will come back. We have to leave. I'll explain everything once we're safe," Grovyle said. He ran up to the door, the leaf on his head flapping wildly behind him. "Well? Are you coming?"

I considered it. _Well, Grovyle is a criminal… I'm not sure if I completely trust him… But he did save our butts back there at the stockade…_

"Okay, Grovyle. We'll trust you for now," I said.

"Good. Now, let's go. The Sableye won't stay gone forever."

XxX

**PLOT TWIST!**

**Yeah. Sorry for not updating for a while. I just wanted to leave you hanging. I'm evil like that. I will try to update every other day or so.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you in a day or so. :)**


	25. Chapter 24: Chasm Cave

**In the future...**

Chapter 24: Chasm Cave

We found an entrance to a dark cave by the stockades. Grovyle raced right in to the cave without hesitation, but Jade and I weren't so eager. I wasn't quite ready to trust a criminal who said that the only way out was by going through a large dark cave.

But seeing as we didn't have much of a choice, Jade and I eventually had to trust him, at least for a while.

Grovyle ran through the cave, leaving us to plod behind as fast as our legs could go. According to Grovyle, it wasn't fast enough.

"C'mon, Chikorita! Can't you move any faster?" Grovyle said.

"I'm going… as fast… as I can…" Jade panted.

"And her name's not Chikorita. It's—" I started.

"Names don't matter to me," Grovyle said shortly.

We didn't talk for quite a while.

I had slightly higher endurance than Jade, so I wasn't keeling over and panting right away. But after about fifteen minutes of running, I began to tire out.

_We have to take a break soon, _I thought.

But no chance for a break arose. Whenever Jade or I insisted on taking a break, Grovyle just reminded us that the Sableye were still on the lookout for us.

After a few more minutes of running, Jade broke the tense silence.

"Grovyle… Is this… the future…?" Jade panted.

"Yes it is. You sure catch on quickly," Grovyle smirked sarcastically.

"Will we… ever be able… to get back… to our own time?" I asked.

"Who knows? For now we should just focus on getting as far away from the stockades as possible. Those Sableye won't—"

"I know the Sableye are looking for us! You don't have to remind us every two seconds!" I snapped.

A few more minutes passed without conversation. Jade continued to pant. I continued to wonder about Dusknoir and Grovyle and who I should trust.

Finally, we saw a light ahead of us.

"Hey! That looks like the exit to the cave!" Jade exclaimed.

"Finally… Can we take a break there?" I asked.

Grovyle didn't respond. He darted away faster than you could say "future".

Once we emerged from the cave, Jade and I stopped and just looked at the world.

The whole world was completely monochrome. The ground was gray, the sky was dark, and the few trees were black and looked like scraggly hands. Large boulders twice my size were suspended in midair as if they had been frozen in place…

"What the… This is… the future? It's like…" I said.

"So… gray…" Jade said in awe.

"You don't say," Grovyle said under his breath. He continued to run ahead.

"Ugh… I can't keep going… Need to take a break…" Jade panted.

Grovyle sighed. "Well, you're in luck, Chikorita. There's a place just up ahead where we can rest."

"Whew! Thank goodness!" Jade said.

We ran a little longer and eventually found what appeared to be the entrance to a dungeon. Ahead of us was the black mouth of a cave, to my left there was a Kangaskhan Rock, to my right there was a cliff.

Jade collapsed on top of the Kangaskhan Rock and let out a sigh. "Thank goodness that's over."

"Oh, it's not over just yet. Those Sableye are still after us. Once you're all rested, we should get going," Grovyle said.

Jade suddenly looked at Grovyle with a look of repulsion. "Ex-CUSE me?! Who's 'we'? We never said anything about you joining us!"

Grovyle looked at Jade strangely. "You are aware that you cooperated with me while we were escaping, right?"

"Yes, but that was only because we didn't have much of a choice!" Jade snapped.

"Look, do you want to get back to your time or not?" Grovyle asked.

"Yes, but—"

"I know a way to get back to your time."

"No. I don't believe you."

Grovyle looked at me. "Is she always this stubborn?"

"Kind of," I said.

"I heard that! Now, shove off before I make you!" Jade said.

"Sheesh. You're feisty. Anyway, you two should get going. The Sableye will be catching up to us soon." He began to make his way to the cave.

"Wait! Grovyle!" I called.

Grovyle stopped abruptly. "Yes?"

Jade glared at me as if she couldn't believe that I was talking to a criminal.

"Shouldn't we wait until morning to leave? I mean, it's dark out. We won't be able to see much. And don't tell me the Sableye will get us if we take a break!" I added.

Grovyle stopped and sighed, as if we had mentioned a sensitive subject. "We can't," he muttered.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked.

"We can't wait until morning to leave," Grovyle repeated.

"Why?" I pressured.

"Morning… never comes," Grovyle said.

"What do you mean, morning never comes?" I asked. Grovyle's words were really starting to confuse me.

"This place… Is paralyzed."

"WHAT?!" Jade and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"But Dusknoir said that you were trying to paralyze the planet!" Jade said.

"Do you really believe a word that Dusknoir says now?" Grovyle sighed.

Jade didn't answer. I didn't really have an answer either. I mean, only minutes ago, Dusknoir had ordered a squad of Sableye to get rid of us, and Grovyle had saved our lives. But shouldn't this be theother way around?Dusknoir should be the good guy, and Grovyle should be the bad guy… right?

When the silence grew awkward, Grovyle sighed. "I thought so. I'll be going now. You two should get going as well. Don't let the Sableye get you." He set off into the cave, and in seconds he was lost in the darkness.

Jade turned to me, confusion on her face.

"So Dusknoir said that Grovyle was trying to paralyze the planet… But it's already paralyzed… Were we too late to stop the planet's paralysis?" Jade said.

"I… I really don't know…" I admitted.

Jade choked back a sob and put her head on my shoulder. "Emile… I'm so confused… I don't know who to trust… The only Pokémon that I'm sure I trust… is you."

I smiled. "Hey, don't worry, Jade. I'm sure we'll get through this."

A small smile flickered on Jade's face, but it was immediately extinguished when a laugh of "Wheh-heh-heh!" echoed off of the walls.

"It's the Sableye," Jade said.

"We need to go. Now," I said urgently. I ran over to the Kangaskhan Rock and switched around my items. For a strange reason, we could access all the items that we had left in the Kangaskhan Storage in Treasure Town. It wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened to me.

Once we were satisfied with our items, we set off into the cave.

It was very dark in the cave, and I couldn't see anything. I just wandered around blindly, hoping to be able to feel my way around with the walls. But I quickly noticed that there were no walls. Just chasms.

I hoped that the enemies here would be hampered by the chasms. Surely Pokémon with feet like us couldn't cross the gaping holes. But there was no such luck. The majority of the Pokémon in the cave could fly or float over the chasms much to our dismay.

As we trekked through the dungeon, I couldn't help but think about our current predicament.

_So we've been dragged to the future by Dusknoir, who secretly wants us dead. Then we narrowly escaped certain death with the help of a criminal. Then we learn the planet is paralyzed. And now we're in a dangerous, unfamiliar dungeon with no way to get back to our own time. _That's when I stopped thinking about it. It was giving me a headache that disrupted my concentration.

Deep down inside, I was scared. Very scared. I just wanted to curl up on the floor of Chasm Cave and cry until something happened. But I couldn't. I had to be strong. For Jade…

After nine floors of chasms, Pokémon, and headaches, we emerged into a clearing of sorts. We were still in the cave, but this area was slightly brighter than Chasm Cave. Many small waterfalls cascaded down the gray walls, but the waterfalls were completely still, as if they'd been frozen. Then I realized that they _had_ been frozen. Frozen in time.

Way ahead was a Kangaskhan Rock. Ahead of that was the entrance to another dungeon.

I began to make my way to the next entrance, but Jade wasn't following me. She was staring at a frozen waterfall.

"Hey, Jade. We need to keep moving," I said.

Jade snorted. "You're starting to sound like Grovyle now."

"It's true, though. The Sableye are probably still after us," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll be quick. Or rather, you'll be quick."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to touch this waterfall."

I blinked, thrown by such a strange request.

"Touch the water?" I said stupidly.

"Yes, you doofus. If you touch the water, your Dimensional Scream might activate," Jade sighed.

"Oh. Right," I said.

I approached the frozen spray of water. _This waterfall could be holding the key to our escape from this perilous world… _I looked at my furry black paw for a second. Then I placed it on the waterfall.

It was a curious feeling to touch a waterfall frozen in time. It was almost like touching ice; it was rock-solid and rather cold. I waited for a vision to appear to me. But nothing happened.

"So, Emile. Do you see anything?" Jade asked after a minute of silence.

"Nope. Nothing," I said, my hand still on the water spray.

We sat there for another minute or so, waiting for my Dimensional Scream to activate. But nothing came forth.

"Nothing's happening…" I said.

"What? You're not seeing a—"

"Wheh-heh-heh!" The cold laugh echoed around the walls and made Jade stop.

"It's the Sableye," Jade whispered.

"We need to hurry," I whispered back.

I raced up to the Kangaskhan Rock and switched around our items. Once we were all prepared, we set off into the dungeon ahead of us.

XxX

**I hope you like the newest installment to Follow Your Heart. Don't forget to review. Otherwise, have a nice day...**


	26. Chapter 25: Dark Hill

**Hooray for twenty six chapters! Let's go for another 26!**

Chapter 25: Dark Hill

Outside the cave was a large hill dotted with dead trees and covered in gray grass. The sky above us was dark and starless as ever, and many large boulders floated around.

"Ugh… This place gives me the creeps," I said, shivering.

"No kidding… I just feel so… uneasy, like someone's gonna attack me," Jade said, also shivering.

"But we have to be strong. We can't afford to chicken out at a place like this," I said.

"You're right. We have to be strong…" Jade said.

She took a deep breath and started to climb up the hill. "Well? Are you coming?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. I too took a moment to calm my nerves. Then I followed Jade up the Dark Hill.

Dark Hill was a very… interesting place. It was infested by all sorts of Ghost types that were super resistant to my Force Palm, Brick Break, and Quick Attack. But I did notice that Bite really hurt the ghosts.

But no matter how many ghosts I mowed down, more appeared. It was like they all walked out of the walls. Then I realized that they did indeed walk straight out of the walls. Gastlys and Misdreavuses surprised us by appearing right in front of us. Soon it became a regular occurrence that didn't faze me in the slightest.

As we progressed through the floors, the Ghost types grew stronger. The Ghosts were quite tricky, as they hid in the walls so that they could attack us but we couldn't attack them. When they did attack, they usually used a move called Spite that made me unable to use a certain move. Jade said that Spite drained the "PP" of the last move that I used.

"But don't worry. Just one Max Elixir and you'll be able to use it again," she had said. That would've been great, but we only had one Max Elixir. I made a mental note to prepare better next time.

Soon we were facing strong Pokémon like Haunter and Dusclops. I don't know why, but whenever I saw a Dusclops, I was reminded of Dusknoir, that lying scumbag…

_I just don't know who to trust anymore… _I thought. _I still can't get over the fact that Dusknoir is the real bad guy and Grovyle's the good guy… _Those thoughts swam around in my head and just made me even more confused.

_Ugh… I'll have to thing about this later. It's making my head hurt, and all these Haunters aren't helping either._

Ten floors… Eleven floors… Twelve floors later we finally reached the top of the hill. The hill was much taller than I thought; we were towering over most of the barren land.

Jade walked over to the edge of the hill and gasped. "Emile! Check this out!" she exclaimed.

I walked over to Jade. "What? What?" I asked.

"Look down," she said.

I looked down, and amongst the monochrome world, a cluster of bright lights twinkled like candles.

"Aren't those pretty? It's nice to see such bright lights in this dark world…" Jade said.

"Yeah…" I said.

"Hold on, Emile… I think… those are the stockades…" Jade said sadly.

I looked closer, and yes, the lights were clustered around the area where our journey in the future began. "Yeah… they are the stockades, Jade…" I said.

Jade suddenly collapsed on the ground, crying. "T-then there's no hope…" she cried, her body racked with sobs.

I knelt by her. "Hey, Jade…"

"Don't tell me it's alright! It's not alright!" Jade snapped. "We're lost in the dark future with nothing but a criminal's word to go on. We know that there's a whole mob of ghosts that want us dead. And…" Jade broke off and continued to sob.

"Jade…"

"…I wanna go home," Jade said simply. "I wanna go home to Chatot and Wigglytuff and everyone else at the guild. I…" Jade sobbed some more.

_She's so sad… I want to find a way to cheer her up, but… Words of hope would seem like false comfort… What can I do? _Then I realized what I needed to do.

"Hey, Jade," I said.

Jade looked up. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes red. "What? What is it?"

"Let's go back to our own time," I said.

Jade gasped. "What?! What do you mean?" For just a second, I saw a flicker of hope on her face.

"Let's go back to our own time," I repeated.

"I'd love to, but we have no idea how…" Jade said. She looked down, and the flicker of hope was gone.

"We'll figure out how," I said.

_What should I say now…? _I suddenly remembered something. A conversation that Jade and Grovyle started…

_ "__Look, do you want to get back to your time or not?"_

_ "__Yes, but—"_

_ "__I know a way to get back to your time."_

Grovyle said that he knew how to get back to our time… was he lying? I could only hope he wasn't…

"Hey, Jade," I said.

"Hmm?" Jade said, looking up.

"Let's get going. I want to find Grovyle," I said.

"What? Find Grovyle? Are you CRAZY?! Why?" Jade exclaimed.

"I'm gonna have a little… talk with him," I said. "You know he said that he knew a way to get back to our time."

"No. I don't wanna even look at that scumbag again." I knew Jade wouldn't agree with me. I simply knew it.

"Jade, you have to learn to trust people."

"He's a criminal! He's stolen the Time Gears!"

"Yes he has, but—"

"No. I'm not going."

Jade turned around.

_Jade… please work with me… _I thought.

"Jade. Grovyle is originally from the future. But he came back to our time. So that means that he probably knows how to time travel," I said.

Jade turned around. "Yeah, but… He's a criminal. I don't wanna have to rely on him for help."

"Jade, please. We'll go back to our time and everyone will be happy. It'll be fine," I said softly.

Jade was silent.

Then, finally, she nodded. "Okay. You're right… Grovyle's our only hope. We have to trust him. We have to…" Jade suddenly charged at me and nearly knocked me over with a tackle hug.

"Ack! What the—" I grunted in surprise.

"Thanks, Emile. You helped cheer me up when I was feeling down," Jade said.

"Aw… You're welcome," I said.

Jade backed away from me. "No. Really. Thank you so much… I almost gave up hope there. I thought I had no one who I could trust, but… I have you. You're trustworthy enough."

"You really think so?" I asked.

"Of course!" Jade wiped away a tear on her face. I couldn't help but notice that Jade's face was slightly pink, almost as if she were… blushing. "Okay. I'm over it. I'm ready to move out."

I smiled. _Jade! You came back to me!_

"Okay, Jade. Let's get going. We have an overgrown lizard to find."

XxX

**In the Hands of Fate= THIRD PRETTIEST SONG IN THE GAME  
**


	27. Chapter 26: Sealed Ruin

**Finally! I'm back! Hooray for free Wi-Fi!  
**

**Anyway, I present to you (how many times have I said that?) Chapter 26. Enjoy.**

Chapter 26: Sealed Ruin

We went down Dark Hill and walked down a rundown path for a little while until we reached what appeared to be a crumbling brown temple with a Kangaskhan Rock just outside it.

"Whoa. This is huge," I said, gazing up to the top of the temple.

"No kidding…" Jade said, following my example.

"I wonder what's inside it," I said curiously.

"Oh gee, let me guess. I don't know, maybe another dungeon?" Jade said sarcastically.

"Well, I kinda guessed that," I said.

"Wheh-heh-heh!" The Sableye's laugh, though quite distant, got us on edge.

"Oh schist. They're still on our trail," Jade said.

"They just won't give up, will they?" I said.

"Yeah. We've gotta go. Now," Jade said frantically.

"Right," I said.

I went to the Kangaskhan Rock and quickly swapped out my items. I remembered just in time to pack extra Max Elixirs, because you never know when a ghost might use Spite on you. When I was satisfied with my items, I got Jade and walked into the crumbling castle.

Sealed Ruin was… kind of a mixed dungeon for me. There were a few Steel types who were weak to my moves, like Foretress and Probopass, but there were also Shelgons and Muks who resisted me.

There oddly wasn't a single Ghost type to be found. I thought that was strange, because we were in an ancient temple. Surely there was a vengeful spirit or something lurking around here. But none came forth…

The Muks proved to be very challenging. They didn't seem fazed when I hit them with Brick Break. Once my "turn" was over, the Muk I was facing would expel a stinky gas that would make me keel over.

"Agh! What's happening?" I said through a fit of coughing.

"Muk used Poison Gas on you. You're poisoned now. We're gonna have to make it to the stairs fast or else—"

"I'll die," I completed.

"Yes," Jade confirmed.

Jade and I had to combine forces to defeat the Muk. Once it was defeated, however, I still felt poisoned.

"It goes away once you go down the stairs," Jade informed me.

We reached the stairs, and as soon as I set foot on them, the poison vanished.

"Sweet," I said.

Jade and I went through the dungeon silently, occasionally pausing to knock out an enemy or pick up an item. All the while, I still thought about Grovyle and Dusknoir and who was who.

After eight floors, we came across a relay point with a Kangaskhan Rock.

"Whew! It's been a rough eight floors, hasn't it?" I said.

"You have it easy. All those Steel types don't fall easily to grass," Jade said, brushing some dirt off of her green body.

"Yeah…" I admitted. "But we have to keep going. Maybe Grovyle's in here."

"Right. So let's go," Jade said.

We continued into the dungeon.

As we made our way through the Sealed Ruin Pit, it gradually got chillier and more… unsettling. I began to feel as if there were someone out there, watching me…

"Emile," Jade said.

"Yes?" I said.

"Do you feel… weird? Like there's someone behind you?" Jade asked, shivering.

"Good. I'm not the only one," I said.

"Yeah… Maybe we should be careful," Jade said.

"Yep. Sure," I said.

We wandered around for a while until we found the stairs. The uneasy feeling was worse than ever…

I led the way down the stairs, afraid about what I was going to find at the bottom.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Jade and I looked around. We were in a small dirt chamber with rock solid walls. A small gray rock that kind of looked like a face sat in the middle of the chamber. The exit to the chamber was right across from the entrance.

The uneasy feeling rolled around in my gut. "Ugh… I feel… horrible…" I said.

Jade didn't say anything. When I looked over at her, I saw her standing still, completely petrified.

"Emile…" She raised a shaking hand and pointed at the gray rock in the center. I looked at the rock and found that it was no longer gray…

Purple energy encased the rock. Green balls of energy floated and crackled around it.

"That's…" Then I saw it.

Lying in the corner of the room, surrounded by the purple energy, was Grovyle. He looked very battered, and I couldn't be entirely sure if he was conscious.

"G-Grovyle!" I cried.

One of Grovyle's eyes opened a fraction of an inch.

"R-Riolu…" he groaned.

"Grovyle, what's wrong?" Jade asked.

"D-don't worry about me… Just save yourselves…" he grunted.

"What?! What do you mean?" I asked.

"Run… They're coming…" Grovyle's injuries overcame him and his eye squeezed shut in pain.

"Grovyle!" I ran over towards him, but…

"You DARE trespass on OUR land?" someone asked. The speaker sounded like there were several voices speaking at once.

"Wah! Who's there?" Jade cried.

"HEE! HEE hee HEE hee HEE!" the voice cackled again.

The rock in the middle of the room glowed brightly, and the purple energy around it expanded…

Soon I was looking at a strange swirl of purple and green with a large smile and two bright eyes. I realized with a shock that the thing that I was looking at was the reason I felt so uneasy.

"Who are you?" Jade asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"We are… SPIRITOMB!" the swirly thing said. "And we don't LIKE people who trespass upon our land!"

"Spiritomb! Listen! We don't want to fight you…" I began.

"We were just passing by…" Jade explained.

"PAH! We don't WANT to hear your excuses!" Spiritomb spat.

"But—"

"SILENCE! You will PERISH at the hands of ALL ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT of us SPIRITS! HEE hee HEE hee HEE!" Spiritomb inched closer to us, and our battle began.

Jade started off by firing her signature Razor Leaf. Spiritomb howled in outrage as the razor-sharp leaf pierced his "skin". But he quickly recovered and approached me.

Spiritomb looked like a Ghost type to me, and Ghost types were weak to my Bite attack. So I tried it, but Spiritomb didn't even blink.

"He's a dual Dark and Ghost type! He has no weaknesses!" Jade informed me.

"Great," I grumbled. My best attack would have to be Bite for this battle, as all my other moves wouldn't hurt him too much.

Spiritomb smirked and lunged at me with surprising speed. I groaned and stumbled back a few steps, but I wasn't that hurt, actually.

Jade approached Spiritomb and used her homing Magical Leaf attack. I followed up with Force Palm and was actually slightly surprised when he grunted and recoiled.

"Good job, Emile!" Jade said.

"You too," I said.

Spiritomb then released a strange light at me. Instantly everything became unfocused and the room began to spin. "Huh… what…" I mumbled.

"Oh, you DARE confuse my partner?! You must DIE!" Jade growled.

The next few minutes were blurry to me. I just wandered around like a drunken man while Jade kicked Spiritomb's butt. My mind was foggy and my thoughts were scattered, and so I didn't really do anything but wander around and mumble to myself.

Eventually my confusion wore off and I started making my way to Spiritomb, who was looking pretty worn down. I approached it and used Force Palm, which was quickly followed up with Magical Leaf. Spiritomb howled in pain and keeled over.

"Urk… Urrrrrrk…" Spiritomb groaned.

"Maybe THAT will teach you not to mess with my partner!" Jade said.

"Urrrrrrrrrrrk…" Spiritomb suddenly began to glow and groan some more. "URRRRRRRRRRK!" The glow became too bright…

Jade and I squeezed our eyes shut and stumbled back with a "Waaah!"

Then a second later the light faded. Jade and I opened our eyes…

Spiritomb was gone. A gray rock was all that was left of him. Jade and I were perfectly fine.

Then the rock did something quite unexpected. It started moving. It looked around in confusion, but it finally turned to me.

"Huh?" a tiny voice squeaked.

"Um…" I said.

The rock jumped up and down for a second, as if surprised. "Eep! R-run away! Run away!" it squeaked. The strange rock hopped off in the direction we came from.

"Um… what was that all about?" Jade asked.

Someone groaned, and I realized that we had forgotten about Grovyle, who was still lying on the ground. I noticed that the purple energy around him was gone.

"Urk…" he grunted.

"Grovyle!" I said, rushing over to him and helping him up.

"Grovyle! Are you okay?" Jade asked, blushing ever so slightly.

He groaned again and picked himself up. "I'm fine. That crafty Pokémon… He entered my body through my nose and took me over… I wouldn't really recommend getting possessed."

"That was an evil Pokémon, didn't you think, Grovyle?" Jade said.

"Nah, he wasn't completely evil. You saw what he did when the situation got hairy; he fled. See, Pokémon here aren't truly evil; they're just bitter because of the darkness," Grovyle said.

"'Eep! Run away!'" Jade giggled in an impersonation of Spiritomb's tiny voice. We all smiled.

"Wait… Why are you guys so concerned about me anyway? Last time we parted ways, Chikorita here hated me," Grovyle realized.

"Well, due to the circumstances, I guess we're gonna have to trust you…" Jade said, though she didn't look too thrilled about it.

"However, we do want an explanation," I said.

"So? What if I just feed you a pack of lies?" Grovyle snorted.

Jade took a deep breath. "I'll listen to your explanation, alright? Then I'll decide if what you're saying is true or false. And if you do try to feed us a pack of lies, oh man, am I gonna be angry," she said.

"Yeah. It would be best to decide for yourself," I agreed.

Grovyle looked at me with a curious expression. "Hey, Riolu. You said you had a name, right? Well, what is it?" he asked.

"My name? Why does it matter to you?" I asked.

"Just tell me your name," Grovyle pressured.

"My name is—" How convenient. Before I could say my name, the familiar "Wheh-heh-heh!" of the Sableye echoed off the walls of the ruins. The voice sounded distant, but I knew the Sableye could run very fast.

"God! They just won't stop pursuing us!" Jade sighed.

"Yeah. We'll run now and talk later, okay?" Grovyle said.

"Okay," I agreed. And with Grovyle in the lead, we raced out of the dirt cavern.

XxX

We emerged from the Sealed Ruin and appeared to be in some sort of canyon with tall walls. Grovyle ran on ahead of us, and with a sigh, Jade streaked off after him.

After a few minutes of running, Grovyle found a small cove in the side of the canyon. "We'll do our explaining there, okay?"

"Sure," I said.

We ran into the cove, where Jade promptly collapsed. "Whew! What a run!"

"You need to work on your stamina, Chikorita," Grovyle said.

"Grr! I'm tired of you calling me Chikorita! I have a name, you know," Jade snapped.

"Whatever. So, I guess I owe you an explanation…" Grovyle said.

"Oh, you owe us an explanation, all right!" Jade said.

"Jade, don't be rude," I said, nudging Jade in the ribs.

"Excuse me, princess. So, tell us: how did this planet get paralyzed in the first place?" Jade prompted.

"Well, it began several centuries ago, back in your time…" Grovyle said. "It started with the collapse of a place called Temporal Tower. Temporal Tower is a very mysterious place that gives structure to time and keeps it flowing properly. There's a Pokémon named Dialga that watches over the tower and keeps time flowing properly, but…

"When Temporal Tower began to collapse, Dialga went berserk. He has lost his sense of self, and he is now completely Primal. That's what we call him: Primal Dialga. The only thing he's concerned about is self-preservation," Grovyle said.

"Holy schist, that sounds horrible," Jade said.

"Yes it does. Now, in this future, Temporal Tower has already collapsed, and if Temporal Tower collapses…" Grovyle looked at me like he expected me to know the answer.

"The planet becomes paralyzed?" I asked.

"Yep," Grovyle said.

"Hold on a second. Dusknoir told us that you were trying to cause the planet's paralysis by stealing the Time Gears!" Jade said.

"Yeah. I do remember Dusknoir telling us that…" I said.

Grovyle snorted. "You two have seen Dusknoir's true nature, right? He was just pretending to be your friend. He was lying to you. He's just a minion of Primal Dialga," he said.

Jade clutched her head. "My God… I-I just don't know who to trust anymore…" she said.

"Hey, don't be like that," I said. "We have to trust him, at least for the time being."

Jade sighed. "…Okay…"

Grovyle cleared his throat. "Chikorita has a good point there. It's true that if you were to steal a Time Gear, time will stop in that region. But the time-stop is only temporary. If you were to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower, you would be able to reverse Temporal Tower's collapse and restore the flow of time to its proper state," he said.

"So you were going to take all the Time Gears and take them up to Temporal Tower?" I asked.

"Correct," Grovyle said.

"I've never heard of a place called Temporal Tower. You could be lying," Jade said.

"Jade, you have to trust him," I said. "I'm finding it a little hard to believe, too, but…"

"I assure you, Temporal Tower is a real place," Grovyle said.

"I'm not so sure about that!" Jade said. "Look, I just can't believe that Dusknoir is evil…" She stood up. "You know what? No. I _can't _believe you. I just can't." She began to walk away.

"Jade? Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to find Dusknoir. He'll tell me who to trust and all that…" she said.

Grovyle sat up. "No! Don't go to him!"

Jade turned around. "Why?"

"It'll just make it easier for him to get rid of you! You almost got killed by Dusknoir's Sableye at the stockades!" Grovyle snapped.

"Look, I just want to find out the truth here. I don't want to end up falling for a trick that you set up."

"Jade—that's your name, right?—you said that you would decide for yourself whether or not I was lying."

"And I have decided! You're lying!"

"Jade, stop," I said firmly.

Jade looked at me. "Look…"

"I know it's hard to believe. I'm having a little trouble believing Grovyle, too. But he's right. I know he's right," I said calmly.

There was a long silence.

Then, after what seemed like forever, Jade ran up to me and collapsed in my arms. "Emile…" she said softly. I felt something wet on my shoulder, and—big surprise—Jade was crying.

"Do you believe him?" I asked.

"I… I… I guess I do…" Jade sobbed.

She peeled herself away from me. "I believe you, Grovyle," she said shakily.

Grovyle smiled. "That's what I like to hear, Jade." He began to walk away.

"Hey Grovyle, where are you going?" I asked.

"We're going back to your time," was his reply.


	28. Chapter 27: Dusk Forest

**Sorry for not updating. Bad Wi-Fi is bad. Anyway, after two days of waiting, I give you the next chapter. Enjoy.**

**WARNING: Celebi x Grovyle hints here. Continue at your own risk...**

Chapter 27: Dusk Forest

Jade and I followed Grovyle for a little while until we got out of the canyon. Just beside the canyon, there was a huge wall of dark trees and a Kangaskhan Rock.

"Where are we now?" Jade questioned.

"We just got out of Midnight Canyon, and ahead of us is Dusk Forest," Grovyle said.

I looked around, and for the first time in quite a while, that "I've been here before" feeling settled onto me. Looking closer, I noticed that the positions of the trees were similar to the entrance to Foggy Forest…

_Could this be the Foggy Forest of the future? If so it isn't very foggy… It sure is dark, though… _I thought.

"Let me guess: this is another mystery dungeon, right?" Jade grumbled sarcastically.

"You're right," Grovyle said. "In this forest, we'll find one of my friends. She can take us back in time."

"Wait. Did you say—" Jade asked, her mouth agape in shock.

"Yep. Once we find my friend and go to a certain area, we'll be able to go back to your time," Grovyle said.

"Holy schist! That's awesome!" Jade said. I nodded in agreement.

"But keep this in mind: Primal Dialga is only interested in self-preservation. He will try to eliminate anyone who wants to change history. And my friend here… she wants to change history. So…" Grovyle said.

"She could be captured? Or… dead?" I asked.

"Yeah. And without her, we wouldn't be able to get back to your time…" Grovyle said.

"Oh no…" Jade moaned.

"But she is very elusive. She could still be there," Grovyle said.

"We could always hope," I said.

"We can always hope…" Grovyle mused. "Anyway, I'll give you time to prepare for our journey. But please hurry. Every minute we waste is a minute that my friend could be in trouble…"

"Okay. We'll hurry," I said, rushing over to the Kangaskhan Rock to prep my items.

Once I was satisfied with my items, I alerted Grovyle. "I'm ready."

"Good. Let's go," he said quickly. He darted off into the woods, leaving Jade and I to follow behind him.

Dusk Forest was full of strange Pokémon like Mothim and Gabite. At one point, Grovyle warned me to look out for Jumpluff.

"Jumpluff? That sounds like a weak Pokémon," I said confidently.

"It's a dual Grass and Flying type. We're all weak to the Flying type and most of our moves won't do much to it," Grovyle said.

"Oh…" I muttered.

Grovyle smirked. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I say look out for Jumpluff. Oh, speaking of Jumpluff…" He pointed in front of me, and guess what was in front of me? A Jumpluff.

Grovyle was a strong team member. He knew many good moves like Leaf Blade and Dig. He had strong stamina, and he wouldn't tire easily. He could take a few hits, and I usually found myself hiding behind him when I got weak.

Jade was also quite fierce. I guess she was over her "who do I trust" episode. She fought with every ounce of energy that she had, and she could take several hits before tiring.

"I just wanna go back to the past. Back home. And if anyone tries to stop me, they'll get a good ol' taste of a Magical Leaf," she said when I asked why she was fighting so fiercely.

After about eight floors, the forest opened up into a clearing of sorts. A Kangaskhan Rock was next to a tree. The ground was kind of squishy, as if we were standing on Jell-O. A few pools of gray water sat next to the trees.

"This should be where she is…" Grovyle mused.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Her name is Celebi. She's a legendary Pokémon that can travel through time," Grovyle said. He walked over to a cluster of bushes and poked around in it.

"What are you doing?" Jade asked.

"I'm looking for Celebi. She could be hiding…" He paused. "Or she could've been captured by Dialga's minions…"

He walked up to a small pond and peered into it. "Celebi?" he called.

"I doubt she'd be in there…" I said.

"Oh schist… If Celebi's not here, then…" Jade said. "Are you sure this is where Celebi usually is?"

"Yeah… She's always here…" Grovyle was beginning to panic now. "Celebi! Celebi, where are you?" he called.

I was starting to panic as well. _We might never see our home again if Celebi's been captured… Please, Celebi… _

Grovyle walked to the center of the clearing and yelled, as loud as he probably dared, "CELEBI!"

There was still no answer.

"Nooooo… Just as I feared… Celebi… she's been captured…" Grovyle moaned. Jade gasped, and I figured it was only a matter of seconds before she began to cry.

"Celebi…" I said.

But then…

"Tee hee!" The voice made all of us jump. I looked around and tried to find the speaker, but all I could see was the trees and the Kangaskhan Rock…

"Celebi…?" Grovyle said quietly.

"Tee hee! Me, captured? How insulting! There's _no way_ Dusknoir's gonna get his grubby hands on me!" It was the voice again. Grovyle was taking short breaths as if he were excited and surprised.

"Celebi?! Is that you?" Grovyle said to the air.

Just ahead of us, the air shimmered and began to glow. The glow expanded and eventually made a shape…

Once the light cleared, I saw a petite Pokémon hovering in front of me. She was a small, fairy-like figure that vaguely reminded me of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. Her body was mostly pink, and when she moved, she sparkled a little. She had green eyes and small opaque wings that fluttered about, making her stay suspended in the air.

"Are you…" I asked.

"Oh, Celebi!" Grovyle said, rushing up to meet the figure. He grabbed her out of the sky and hugged her tightly. "Celebi, I'm so glad you're okay…" he said.

"Aw, don't worry about me. Are you doing okay?" she asked.

"I'm just fine," Grovyle said.

Celebi fluttered up and took a good look at us. "You have traveling companions? My, my they look—Oh! You even brought along your friend!" she said, noticing me.

Grovyle, Jade and Celebi all looked at me expectantly. I laughed weakly. "Um, hi…?"

Then everyone looked at Celebi. "What do you mean?" Grovyle asked.

Celebi blushed a little. "Oh… It's nothing. So, what brings you here, my dear Grovyle?"

"I think you know," Grovyle responded.

"Oh, yes! You want to go back in time again?" Celebi said.

"That's the plan," I said.

Celebi tilted her head and looked at me. "Well, good news. The Passage of Time is just through this forest."

"Passage of Time? I thought you could just teleport us back to the past," Jade said.

"It's true that I can travel through time. But I can only travel short distances on my own. For long-distance time traveling across many generations, I need to use the Passage of Time," Celebi explained.

"Oh," I said. I was a tad bit disappointed that Celebi couldn't just snap her fingers and teleport us back to our time.

"Cheer up! It won't be too bad! Just think of it as a hike through a forest and a climb up a hill," Celebi said.

"Climb up a hill?" Jade asked.

"The Passage is up on a plateau," Celebi said.

"Oh. Okay," Jade said.

"So it's settled. We'll go through this forest and find the Passage. Then we'll get back to our time. Does that sound like a plan?" Grovyle asked.

"Yeah!" Jade and I said simultaneously.

"I'd love to help, too! I simply hate living in this world. I would give my life to change this dark future!" Celebi said. Grovyle shuddered, and I had the feeling that Celebi's words had a deeper, more dangerous meaning.

"Yes. Okay. That's all good. So, Riolu. Get ready. We're gonna be moving out in a little while. Get your items prepared, and when you're ready, tell me, okay?" Grovyle said.

"Okay," I said. I was still kind of irked that Grovyle kept calling me Riolu. I have a name too.

I went over to the Kangaskhan Rock and once again rearranged my items. Just before we were about to leave, I thought it would be nice to talk to Celebi.

"Hi, hi! So listen. This is just a little secret… Did you know that Grovyle is really impatient and hasty? I know that he wants to hurry, but I do wish he would slow down a little… It would sure make me happier if he did… I want to spend as much time as I can with him…" Celebi said dreamily.

Jade and I looked at each other and giggled.

Celebi gasped and turned a dark shade of pink. "Uh… Oh! That's not how I meant it! I don't have any special feelings for him or anything!"

"Sure…" Jade said, unconvinced. She turned to Grovyle who developed a sudden interest in the Kangaskhan Rock. "Grovyle? Is there something you're not telling me?" Jade teased.

"Shut up," Grovyle muttered, turning the color of a Groudon.

"Aw, c'mon! It's nothing to be ashamed of! You got yourself a shiny legendary! That's pretty good, if I do say so myself!" Jade teased.

"Shut up," he muttered again.

"C'mon, Grovyle!" Jade continued to pressure him for information and Grovyle just responded with "Shut up."

"Celebi? Any light to shed on the subject?" Jade teased.

"I don't have any special feelings for him! We need to keep moving!" she said, still blushing.

"You're right. We need to keep moving," I said, clamping a hand over Jade's mouth.

I walked past Celebi and called everyone over. "Are you all ready?" I asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Celebi said.

"I'm ready, too," Jade said.

Grovyle nodded, his face still red.

"Okay, team. Let's move out." And without further talk, we walked into the forest.

I was sure I just imagined the "Wheh-heh-heh!" that sounded behind us as we departed.

XxX

**CELEBI x GROVYLE FOR LIFE!**


	29. Chapter 28: The Power of Darkness

**ZOMG SUPER SPOILERZ IN THIS CHAPTER**

**READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Chapter 28: The Power of Darkness

Not only did we have Grovyle, who could take out pretty much any enemy with a well-timed Leaf Blade or Dig, but we now had Celebi, who could use Heal Bell and cure us of any status conditions, like poison.

She could also use a move called AncientPower, which had a chance of buffing Celebi up and making her faster, more powerful, and more resistant, even if the Pokémon she was facing wasn't affected much.

I was quite surprised to find Pokémon like Steelix and Rhydon as we explored Deep Dusk Forest. Those enemies seemed really out of place in a forest. But I was in a world of talking Pokémon, and I was slowly getting used to strange things like this.

As we progressed further into the forest, the trees all around us changed from a sickly green color to a sickly yellow color, as if autumn had suddenly come. But I didn't see any leaves fall from the trees. I guess it was because of the whole "planet's paralysis" thing.

_Gah… Being stuck in a dark world like this can really drive a Pokémon insane… I wonder if there's any way to fix a world like this, _I thought as I looked around.

A few floors after the trees changed color, we walked down the stairs and emerged into a sandstorm.

"Sandstorms in a forest. This is _illogical_," Jade said.

"Unfortunately, this is life for us," Celebi said. "It's absolutely dreadful to live in such a dark, dreary world. That's why I'm allied with Grovyle here. If he wants to fix this world, then so do I. I go where Grovyle goes."

"Probably because she _loves him_," Jade whispered to me. We giggled a little.

A few floors of sandstorms later, the trees began to thin. One floor after that, we reached the bottom of a tall plateau.

"The Passage of Time should be just up this plateau! Follow me!" Celebi said. With a flutter of her wings, Celebi began to float up.

"Ugh… We have to climb… again…" Grovyle muttered.

"Again? You've climbed up here before?" I asked.

"Obviously! This is the same Passage of Time that my friend and I took when we first travelled back in time… That reminds me… I wonder where he is now…" Grovyle said.

"You had a friend?" I asked.

"Yeah…" He drifted off into Memoryland and muttered something that sounded like, "Please be safe…"

"C'mon, Slowpokes! Hurry up already!" Celebi said, fluttering up higher.

Jade sighed. "Okay, lovebird," she said.

And we began our long climb up the plateau.

All the while I was thinking about how close we were to home. _We'll be home soon… We'll be back at the guild… I just can't wait to go home…_

A few minutes in, Jade cried, "Ow! I have blisters on my hands!" I took one look at my black paws and saw that I, too, had blisters on my hands.

"You two! Endure it! You've endured so many dungeons… you've survived a fight with me… you've survived a direct assault from the Sableye… This should be nothing!" Grovyle encouraged us. "I have blisters, too, but I'm not complaining!

"You're more resilient than us," Jade reminded him. She winced in pain as she grasped a rock with her stubby arm.

"Good point," Grovyle said.

After maybe ten minutes, we reached the top of the plateau. The top was a flat, rocky plain that didn't look like anything special… except for the glowing white gate of energy that sat a few feet in front of us.

"Holy… Is that the Passage of Time?" I asked.

"Yeah," Celebi said.

"Sweet! So if we were to step in there, we'd go back to our time?" Jade asked.

"Yep!" Celebi said. Then her eyes turned sad.

"Oh… You won't be coming with us, will you?" I asked.

"Nope. I have to stay here. Once you step in the Passage, you'll go back to your own time… So this is goodbye," Celebi said.

"Celebi…" Grovyle said. "I'll really miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, my dear Grovyle. Just… go back and save the world, okay?" Celebi said.

"I will," Grovyle said.

We approached the Passage and were about to step in… but then…

"That's far enough!" Unfortunately, I recognized the voice.

Six Sableye appeared all around us. Dusknoir rose up from the ground. At first I wondered how he'd done it. Then I remembered Dusknoir was a Ghost type. He could walk through walls.

"Wah! D-Dusknoir!" Jade said, stumbling back. Grovyle, Celebi, Jade and I backed up into a close circle.

"Hello, Team Aura. I see you've recruited a few more members," Dusknoir said.

"Dusknoir…" I said. "How did you do this? We've never seen you or a Sableye since we left the stockades!"

"…Clever. He let us roam free, but the Sableye were tracking us the whole time… Then we found Celebi and came up here… And now you can capture us all. You're quite the clever fellow," Grovyle said.

"Precisely. You're pretty smart too. But are you smart enough to escape me?" Dusknoir said.

"I did it before, I can do it again," Grovyle said, analyzing the Sableye as if he were thinking about how to take them down.

"Hoo! Hoo-ha-ha! You think that I haven't come prepared since last time?" Dusknoir laughed. He turned around and said in a loud, cold voice, "Master Dialga! Now!"

Grovyle violently swore, but his curses were drowned out by the horrible noise that sounded.

It sounded like an elephant had been dropped off a cliff. A huge _thud _followed by an earsplitting "GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" nearly broke my eardrums.

Then a shadow appeared on a nearby cliff, and Grovyle swore again.

The shadow was quite large, several times larger than me. It had four legs, a very long head, and a large tail. Then something shone on the shadow, and everyone (including me) swore.

It was dark blue with bright orange "stripes" on its body. His red eyes were wide and had a manic look in them. It opened its mouth and roared, "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

"Is that…" I said.

"P-Primal Dialga," Grovyle squeaked. I had never seen Grovyle look so afraid.

"GRRRRRR… GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Primal Dialga roared.

Dusknoir began to laugh. "Hoo-ha-ha! Let's see you try to escape… THIS! HOO! HOO-HA-HA!"

Grovyle stepped forward, hands raised "Okay. Okay. We surrender."

"WHAT?!" Celebi, Jade and I screamed.

"I'm sorry, my friends. Dusknoir and his Sableye are one thing… But against Primal Dialga… We'd be lucky if we could land one hit on him. I'm so sorry…" Grovyle said.

"Hm! I see you've chosen the wise choice! Very good," Dusknoir said. "Now, all of you. Come forward…"

Jade stiffened and took a deep breath before screaming, "NO!"

We all looked at Jade.

"Jade… It's no use. There's no point in resisting him. We can't fight them all," Grovyle said. He continued to walk forward…

"No, Grovyle! Don't give up hope! We can still win this!" Jade said.

"But how?" Grovyle asked.

"Just… don't give up. I'm sure we can escape this…"

"Why are you submitting to him so easily? There's no telling what he'll do to you," I said.

"Time for another explanation…" Grovyle whispered. "The first time I traveled back in time… I had a friend. Both of us had the same idea in mind: we would go back and change history. But he was truly bizarre because… he was a human."

My heart nearly stopped. _Holy Arceus! Grovyle had a human friend! And I was a human…!_

"We got separated during our time travel experience, and I haven't seen him since, but I'm sure that he's still in the past, finishing what I started… So if you take me, Dusknoir, you still haven't won. You haven't captured my friend," Grovyle said confidently.

Dusknoir laughed. "Hoo-ha-ha! And who was your friend's name?" he said.

"His name? His name was… Emile."

I nearly fainted.

I was vaguely aware that Jade was staring at me, her mouth agape. "Emile…"

"Hoo! Hoo-ha-ha! Turn around, Grovyle! Do you see that Riolu?" Dusknoir said.

Grovyle slowly turned around…

"Yes! Him! Now, little Riolu, what is your name?" Dusknoir said.

I didn't answer for quite a while. My voice wouldn't work. I was just too surprised to speak, to attack, to do anything.

All eyes were trained on me, waiting for me to deliver my name…

Finally, I managed to get out, "E…Emile."

Jade, Celebi, and Grovyle gasped. Dusknoir and his Sableye began to laugh. Dialga roared.

"No. No. Impossible. The Emile I knew wasn't a Pokémon," Grovyle said.

"Ah, are you quite sure? As I recall, you had a little… accident while you two were traveling back in time… And as a result of that incident, Emile here turned into a Riolu!" Dusknoir said.

"But… how did you figure that out?" Grovyle said.

"It was a long time ago… Back when I first met this little runt… At first, I suspected nothing… But then I heard about Emile's special ability…" Dusknoir said.

"His Dimensional Scream?" Jade asked.

"Yes. Then I started thinking… But then he told me his name, and I knew…" Dusknoir said.

Then everything fell in place. My transformation… Dusknoir's small smile when I told him my name… Celebi calling me Grovyle's friend as if she had seen me before… All I could do was stand, petrified, while everyone talked.

"And that's why I dragged him to the future with that idiot, Jade! And now, this will be the end… for both of you!" Dusknoir said. Then he and the Sableye began to laugh manically.

"Emile…" was all Grovyle could say.

"Look, guys, we need a plan. Now," I said. "Don't worry about my identity… Just worry about getting out of here…"

"There's no use… We're destined to fail… We can't do anything…" Grovyle said sadly.

"Grovyle! Don't just give up! We have to think of a plan!" Jade said.

"We can't. We'll fail. There's no point to resisting," Grovyle said, sounding utterly defeated.

"NO! We can't just give up! WE. CAN'T. GIVE. IN!" Jade roared.

"She's right! There's always hope! Always!" I said.

"Hold on! I think I've got a plan! Celebi, can you create a path through time and get us to the Passage?" Jade said to Celebi.

"It won't be easy! Dialga here will thwart any puny attempt to time travel!" Celebi informed.

"Celebi… Please. We just need to get out of this ring of Sableye, then we'll be fine. Please. _Please,_" Jade pressured.

"Grovyle is right! There's no hope for you!" Dusknoir said.

"Celebi, please," Jade said.

Celebi sighed. "All of you. Grab onto my arms." We all obliged.

"Now, enough chatter. This ends now," Dusknoir said menacingly. He pointed at us and said, "Now! Attack them!"

The Sableye charged at us, but just before they could attack, Celebi said, "Time to travel!"

A bright light blazed in my eyes and I was swept off my feet…

I was blinded. The only thing that I could feel was Celebi's arm. I clutched onto it like a lifeline. The next thing I felt was a slow tugging sensation, as if I was being pulled in a gentle river current.

For a minute all I could feel was the gentle tugging sensation. Then I heard a sound like breaking glass. Black fractures webbed my vision, and…

_KERRACK! _It was as if I had broken through a window. I heard the cracking of glass, and Jade, Celebi, Grovyle and I were deposited right next to the Passage of Time.

"Now! Now's your chance! Run to the Passage… Go back in time and stop this!" Celebi said.

"You'll be okay, I presume?" Grovyle said.

"Yes… Don't worry about me. Save the world for me," Celebi said.

"We will," Grovyle promised. Without further ado, Grovyle jumped into the portal.

"Are you ready to go back to our time?" Jade asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said.

Jade grasped my hand. "Okay, Emile. Let's go."

"Goodbye, you two! Goodbye Emile! My friend!" Celebi said.

And with my hand interwoven with Jade's and my mind still tingling from my revelation, we jumped into the portal.

XxX

**GASPY FACE! EMILE IS A HUMAN FROM THE FUTURE?! IMPOSSIBRU!**

**Sorry for the caps lock. Anyway, thanks for reading. Don't forget to review.**


	30. Chapter 29: Do Your Best, As Always!

**Who needs ****_Back to the Future _****when you have ****_Back FROM the future?_**

Chapter 29: Do Your Best, as Always!

_Whoosh… Whoosh… _

The soft sound of waves brought me into consciousness.

_Where am I? _I thought. I opened my eyes and stared straight up and saw, for the first time in what seemed like forever, a bright blue sky.

I groaned and sat up and found that we were at a beach…

_Whoa! We're back to our own time—No… Not my time… Jade's time… I'm not from here…_

There was a groan next to me, and Jade sat up.

"Ugh… Where are we?" Jade asked.

"We're back in your own time," I said.

"Back in our—Oh my gosh! We're back in our own time! _We're back in our time!_ Hooray!" Jade cried. She ran over to me and hit me with a tackle hug. "Yay! Yes! Yay!"

"Urk…" someone grunted. I broke away from Jade and saw Grovyle slowly returning to consciousness. "Where… are we?" he muttered.

"We're back in our own time! This is the place where I met Emile!" Jade said, walking over to a pile of sand that looked no different than the rest of the sand on the beach. "Yeah! I found him zonked out right here!"

"Hm… Interesting. Emile washed up here, on this beach, and I ended up in the Eastern Forest… I wonder what caused us to get separated," Grovyle said, examining the pile of sand that Jade was standing by.

"I bet it was Dusknoir, that traitor," Jade said.

"…Who knows who did it? Anyway, do you have a place to stay?" Grovyle asked.

"Yep! See, we're apprentices at Wigglytuff's Guild! We have a nice room there! Let's go there," Jade said. She began to walk up to the cliff.

While I desperately wanted to see the other guild members, I knew that we couldn't just yet. Not with Grovyle, anyway.

"Um, Jade? Aren't you forgetting something?" I said innocently.

"Huh? Um… no…?" Jade said.

"Are you _sure_?" Grovyle asked.

"Um… oh. The guild members don't know the truth about Grovyle… They still think he's a criminal…" Jade said, blushing in embarrassment. "Whoops."

"Yeah. So, to answer your question, Grovyle, no, we don't have a place to stay," I concluded.

Jade smiled. "Or do we?" she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We do have a place to stay, actually. But…" Jade trailed off.

"But what?" Grovyle pressured.

"But it requires us going through Treasure Town…" she said.

"We'll have to take that risk," I said.

"Yeah," Grovyle said.

So Jade, Grovyle and I started up the cliff and snuck through Treasure Town. I was quite surprised that we weren't noticed. I mean, a Chikorita, a Riolu, and a criminal Grovyle tended to attract attention.

Soon we reached a cliff that overlooked the blue ocean. Bunches of flowers swayed in the gentle breeze. A pile of logs sat next to a tree stump and an incomplete fire pit. An abnormally large bush was right next to a sign.

Jade sighed. "Whew, I don't think anyone saw us…"

"Um, Jade…?" I asked.

"Where are we?" Grovyle asked.

"This is Sharpedo Bluff. I think it's called that because this place looks like a Pokémon called Sharpedo…" Jade quickly looked around. "Okay, no one's around…" She walked over to the large bush. Jade began to brush aside leaves on the bush.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Jade didn't respond until all of the leaves on the bush were brushed away, revealing…

"A stone staircase!" I exclaimed.

"Yep! This is where I lived before I joined the guild with Emile," Jade said. She bounded down the staircase. "Well? Are you coming?"

Grovyle and I looked at each other. "Um, should we follow her?" I asked.

"Sure…" Grovyle said.

Then we walked down the stairs.

When Grovyle and I reached the bottom of the stairs, we found that we were in a room that was similar to the guild's sublevels: a cozy room with a straw bed. A small fountain in the corner of the room gurgled. A few barrels stood up in another corner.

One side of the room didn't have a wall, but an opening in the cliff that looked out over the ocean. Several jagged rocks that looked like teeth lined the opening.

"Whoa. This is…" I said.

"So cool…" Grovyle said, walking over to the opening and looking out at the blue ocean.

"You like it?" Jade said, looking rather flattered.

"I love it," I said.

"I know it isn't much, but… I'm glad you like it," she said.

Jade walked over to one of the barrels and opened it, revealing a ton of straw to make extra beds. "Say, I get the feeling that we'll be staying here for a while. So could you help me make some beds for you?"

For the rest of the day, Jade, Grovyle and I made extra beds for Grovyle and me to sleep on. It was slow work, and by the time that we finished, it was almost night.

Jade left the Bluff to go find some firewood, leaving me and Grovyle alone.

"So, Emile. Long time, no see. You look a little different," Grovyle said.

"You don't say," I said. We laughed a little.

"So, can you tell me about what happened after the accident?" Grovyle asked.

I was about to tell Grovyle about all our adventures, but then Jade came in, carrying several armfuls of firewood. We made a fire, and with Jade's help, we told Grovyle about all our adventures since I had turned into a Pokémon.

I still couldn't believe that I was a human from the future who wanted to stop the planet's paralysis… And I had some sort of accident that must've turned me into a Pokémon and erased my memory…

The more I thought about it, the more my brain hurt. Eventually I just decided to stop thinking about it and continue recounting our adventure.

By the time we finished, it was nighttime. The moon shone brightly. The stars twinkled like little candles in the sky. The only sounds were the ocean waves below us and the crackling of our fire.

"My, my. That sounds like quite the adventure," Grovyle said.

"Yep," Jade agreed.

"And all this time, Emile, you…" Grovyle trailed off and looked at me. "Do you remember that time in Crystal Crossing when I fought you two? Well, I had no idea that I was fighting my friend… I'm quite sorry. For everything."

"Oh, no, it's okay. I understand. And it wasn't your fault. We didn't know," Jade said.

"So, you and Emile worked together in the future?" Jade asked after a brief pause.

"We did," Grovyle said.

There was another pause.

"Hey, Grovyle, this has been nagging me for quite a while now… how did you know where the Time Gears were?" Jade prompted.

"Well, we started our journey in the future. We searched for places in the future that could conceal Time Gears in the past. It was quite easy with Emile's special ability," Grovyle said.

"Oh! You mean the Dimensional Scream?" Jade asked.

"Yes. It was quite easy with his ability… It would only activate when a trusted partner is nearby and when you are in a place that conceals a Time Gear…" Grovyle explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Grovyle. Slow down. My Dimensional Scream ability activated in places that had no connection to a Time Gear! And it also activated a few days after my transformation, when I first met Jade…" I said.

"That goes to show that you trusted Jade. From the moment you met, you must've trusted her…" Grovyle said. Jade scooted a little further away from me. "But you said that your Dimensional Scream activated in places that didn't hide a Time Gear?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Hmm… Your Dimensional Scream might work differently in the past," Grovyle said.

_That's why my Dimensional Scream didn't work when I touched that frozen waterfall in the future… _I thought. _Huh. Interesting._

"So when we found the locations of the Time Gears, we alerted Celebi and began to travel to the past, but… there was an accident. There was some turbulence, and I got separated from Emile… I ended up in a place called Eastern Forest, and… you said that Emile washed up on the beach?

"I then set off, looking for the Time Gears and Emile… And now here we are. Emile's here, but I don't have a single Time Gear… So that's my story," Grovyle told us.

"Man! You were worried about your friend and the fate of the world, and Emile and I were worried about whether or not we'd get picked for the guild's expedition…" Jade said. "Whatever. So, what's our plan for tomorrow?" she asked.

Grovyle took a deep breath. "I can tell that Jade here's gonna kick me out when I say this, but… We have to steal the Time Gears back," he said cautiously.

"Steal the Time Gears back?!" Jade cried.

"Whoa, whoa, don't kill me just yet! Let me explain… You know that if you bring the Time Gears to Temporal Tower, then they will reverse the collapsing of the tower and therefore prevent the planet's paralysis," Grovyle said quickly. He winced, and for some reason I felt as if there was something he wasn't telling me.

"Oh… Oh, that makes sense…" Jade breathed, sounding as if she'd just had a panic attack.

"Wait… I need to ask you something, Grovyle. Are we going to Temporal Tower?" I asked.

"We are," Grovyle said. "Just not for a while."

"Heck, I don't even know where Temporal Tower is!" Jade exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm really tired. We'll talk strategy tomorrow, okay?" Grovyle yawned.

"Alright," I said.

"Goodnight, then." Grovyle flopped down on his bed and was snoring in an instant.

"Hey, Emile," Jade whispered.

"Yes?" I whispered back.

"It's good to be back," she said.

"Yeah…" I said.

"Anyway, goodnight, Emile,"

"Goodnight, Jade," I said.

Exhaustion swept over me, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

XxX

I woke to the sound of voices above me.

"—can't believe he's really the bad guy. I mean, he seems so nice…" It was Jade. "But… when we were stuck in the future… no wind… no sunlight… no… anything… it really made me learn to treasure the things that we always think will be there…"

"Yes. I understand what you mean…" Grovyle.

"I mean… We just take things like that for granted, but we don't know, somewhere, there's someone who doesn't know the beauty of the sun. I mean, we just don't value it enough, and if it's taken away from us…" Jade suddenly gasped. "Oh! Look! The sun!"

Light began to flood into Sharpedo Bluff. I got to my feet and walked up to the opening in the cliff and watched the world light up.

_The sun… Jade's right… we just take the sun for granted, but Grovyle… To him the sun is more precious to him than anything else…_

"Wow… After an eternity in darkness, I've never felt a sunrise so renewing…" Jade said.

Jade and Grovyle were silent, taking in the breathtaking view of the sunrise. After a minute, Grovyle broke the silence.

"Jade… when we were in the future, confronted by Primal Dialga and Dusknoir and all those Sableye, I lost all hope. But… you didn't give up hope. You decided to keep fighting. What propelled you forward?" Grovyle asked.

"A wise person once said, 'Don't forget. Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you. As long as you remember her, you are not alone.' I don't know why, but… I remembered that saying when we were there.

"If you think in my perspective, then you'll realize that Emile was that person. He was fighting for me. He could've been like me, a sad, scared chicken, but he wasn't. He was strong. He stayed strong, no matter what. He fought for me… I guess that's what inspired me to not give in," Jade said.

Grovyle silently digested Jade's speech. I was silent too, thinking that even though Jade yelled at me and teased me and called me stupid many times a day, she really cared for me and liked me. I was like her role model.

"See, this was my original inspiration to join the guild. I call it my Relic Fragment. It's my biggest mystery. I vowed to unravel the mystery to this, but so far I haven't figured it out. I thought that joining the guild would help me solve it…

"But I couldn't enter it myself. I was too scared… Emile's been giving me courage ever since I first met him…" Jade said.

"I understand what you mean… Emile is a real nice guy. I'm sure everyone can agree with that," Grovyle said.

"Except for Dusknoir. And the Sableye. And Primal Dialga. And… the list goes on and on!" Jade giggled.

"Yeah. Good point," Grovyle said. They both giggled.

"Okay. This has been very enlightening. Let's go back inside and wake up Emile," Jade said.

The next thing I knew, Jade and Grovyle were walking down the stone staircase.

"You're up early, aren't you, Emile?" Jade asked, her face flushed.

"Hey…" I said. "Um… I kind of…"

"You heard us, right?" Grovyle said.

"Um…" I said.

"It's okay, it's okay," Grovyle said quickly.

I could tell Jade wasn't quite ready to forgive me for eavesdropping, but Grovyle had a forgive-and-forget policy. He forgave me easily.

"So what's our plan?" I asked.

"We're gonna steal back the Time Gears," Grovyle said, a smile slowly spreading across his face.


	31. Chapter 30: Treeshroud Forest

**This is one of my favorite parts of the game. I don't know why, but I really like Treeshroud Forest. Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's the atmosphere. Maybe it's all the bright colors. Maybe it's all of those.**

**Anyway, I give you one of my favorite dungeons in one of my favorite chapters. Enjoy.**

Chapter 30: Treeshroud Forest

Grovyle quickly explained what we were going to do: we would go to a place called Treeshroud Forest. In the depths of the forest was a Time Gear. We would then take the Time Gear.

Jade was rather reluctant to steal the Time Gear. "What if everyone starts thinking of me as a criminal? I don't want to be like you, Grovyle… Innocent, but treated guilty…"

"If anyone gets on our case, tell them the truth," Grovyle said.

"What if they don't believe us?"

"Razor Leaf them."

"But what if—"

"No more questions! We need to go now."

"Okay! Alright! Sheesh!"

We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, so we didn't do our usual Treasure Town shopping spree. We just snuck out of town, and before we knew it, we were at Treeshroud Forest.

Treeshroud Forest was a strangely beautiful yet mysterious place. The trees and bushes were all a bright green color. Many brightly colored flowers grew on the trees and bushes. The sun shone brightly above us. A Kangaskhan Rock was right by a parting in the trees that presumably led to another dungeon.

But something was… wrong. There was little movement, and I sensed that the flowers could be brighter and more vibrant. The sky was blue, but a strange shade of blue. If I looked closely enough, the sky looked almost gray…

I wasn't the only one who felt uneasy about Treeshroud Forest. Grovyle was also on edge. "Hmm… There's something… different about this place… Something has changed since I've last been here…" Grovyle mused.

"Um… Grovyle?" Jade said. "What's wrong?"

Grovyle shook his head. "Oh… it's nothing. C'mon, we should go."

"Hold on a second. I need to switch out my items," I said, walking over to the Kangaskhan Rock. Once I was satisfied, we set off into the dungeon.

Treeshroud Forest didn't house the Pokémon that you'd expect to see in a forest. There weren't any Bug types and very few Grass types, but many Psychic types like Ralts and Kadabra. All those Psychics really gave me a hard time, and within five floors, we had wasted one Reviver Seed. Only two more Reviver Seeds left…

Grovyle and Jade were like a dream team. Jade would weaken an enemy with her signature Razor Leaf, and Grovyle would finish them off with Leaf Blade or Quick Attack.

I was okay at fighting enemies. I learned that a few direct Bite attacks would usually take out a Psychic type. Occasionally I'd run into a Houndoom and take it out easily with Force Palm or Brick Break.

It was smooth sailing for the most part, that is, until the eleventh floor…

Jade, Grovyle and I were walking around, trying to find the stairs, when suddenly Jade tensed.

"Emile Watch out. There's something evil up ahead," she said tensely.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Instinct," she said simply.

"Um… okay…? I'll watch out," I said.

Two steps later, we emerged in a very big room that was full dozens of Pokémon. Alakazams, Kirlias, Houndooms, and Vespiquens noticed us immediately and charged at us, growling menacingly.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's a Monster House!" Jade said. What followed was a long string of very dirty swear words.

"How do we get rid of them?" I asked.

"You could use a Spurn Orb and warp all of them away. Or you could use a Petrify Orb to freeze them in their tracks," Grovyle said.

I dug around in my Explorer Bag, trying to ignore the growls and cries of the Pokémon in the monster house. And lucky me. I had one Spurn Orb in my bag.

I threw the orb on the ground and smashed it below my feet. Quite suddenly, all the Pokémon in the Monster House gasped and warped away.

"Yay! We got rid of them!" Jade said, giving me a pat on the back.

"Good job, but we need to hurry. They won't be gone for good," Grovyle said.

"Why does this sound so familiar?" Jade grumbled to herself.

In a few minutes we found the stairs and raced down them. Once we got down them, Jade sighed in relief.

"Whew! I'm glad we escaped those baddies from that Monster House!" she sighed, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow.

"I'm glad we're away from them too, but—" Grovyle began.

"I know, I know! We need to stay alert. You've told us that a hundred times!" I said.

"You can never be too safe," Grovyle said.

"That doesn't mean that you have to remind us that we're in danger every five seconds!" I snapped.

"That doesn't mean you have to lose your temper every time I tell you to stay alert!" Grovyle retorted.

"That doesn't mean—" But then Jade put a hand over my mouth.

"Look. Both of you need to stop arguing," she said in a voice desperately trying to stay level.

"Okay! Fine!" Grovyle said.

"Good," Jade said, taking her hand away from my mouth.

We continued exploring the forest with little incident. The last few floors had darker trees and flowers than the first few did.

On the twentieth floor, I looked up at the sky and noticed that the sun hadn't moved since we had entered the forest.

_That's so weird… Surely the sun would've moved by now…_

When we found the stairs, we walked down them and emerged in what appeared to be the deepest part of the forest.

The air was very still. Not a single breeze rustled the trees. Nothing stirred. _It's almost as if time had completely stopped here… _I thought…

"Holy Arceus… This place… It's frozen in time," Grovyle whispered.

"WHAT?!" Jade and I exclaimed.

"This place is frozen in time. It's like the Time Gear is still missing…" Grovyle peered through the trees in front of us. After a second, he withdrew his head and swore.

"What? What's the matter?" I asked.

"Follow me," Grovyle whispered, leaping through the trees. Jade and I leapt after him.

We emerged in a clearing that looked very gray and lifeless. The trees stood completely still… There weren't any Pokémon leaping about in the depths of the forest… It was a very eerie place to be.

Hovering on top of some rocks in the middle of the clearing was a shape surrounded by a green glow. I looked carefully at the shape, and my heart began to race. Then I recognized the shape as a Time Gear…

"What? The Time Gear's in place here, but… time's still stopped around here…" I said.

Grovyle swore again. "This is bad. This is really bad…"

"What does this mean?" I asked.

But I didn't get a response. Instead, Grovyle leapt onto the rocks, and in one swift motion, he leapt up and grabbed the hovering Time Gear. The forest turned an even darker shade of gray.

"Wah! Why'd you do that?" Jade gasped.

Grovyle put the Time Gear in his small leather satchel. "Time's already stopped here. So if I were to take the Time Gear, it wouldn't make much of a difference, would it?" Grovyle said.

"Yeah, good reasoning…" Jade said.

"So should we go back to Sharpedo Bluff?" I asked.

"Yeah, but…" Grovyle turned to Jade. "Hey, Jade, do me a favor. Once we get back to Sharpedo Bluff, go around Treasure Town and do a general recon, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Jade questioned.

"Go around Treasure Town and get the news. See if there's been anything strange happening. But hang low. I don't want you spotted. If you were spotted, there would surely be a big fuss," Grovyle explained.

"Okay. I get it," Jade said.

"Very good. Once you get the news, report back to our hiding place, okay?" Grovyle said.

"Gotcha, Grovyle," Jade said.

And with that, we left the dark, dreary, gray Treeshroud Forest.

XxX

**By the way, I HATE MONSTER HOUSES. (Then again, who doesn't?) They ALWAYS show up at the worst times and you will almost ALWAYS waste a Reviver Seed or two. The only thing I find them useful for is experience grinding.**

**Lesson of the day: always carry a Spurn Orb or a Petrify Orb. Because you just never know...**


	32. Chapter 31: Goodnight

Chapter 31: Goodnight

Jade, Grovyle and I made it back to Treasure Town without incident. Grovyle and I continued to Sharpedo Bluff while Jade broke off and went around Treasure Town to get the latest news.

Grovyle and I sat down on our beds and stared awkwardly at each other until Grovyle broke the silence.

"So, Emile. You have amnesia?" he asked.

"Yeah. I guess that time travel accident caused it. I don't remember anything about my time with you," I responded. "All I remembered was my name and myself being a human…"

"Ah."

We didn't speak for a while.

"Hey, Grovyle. Do you have any idea about how I ended up in the Pokémon world in the first place?" I asked.

"No. I don't know… I'm sorry," Grovyle said, looking down.

"It's fine."

We were silent for a little longer.

After maybe five more minutes, Jade walked into our little hideout, looking very worried.

"So? What's the news?" Grovyle asked.

"Not very good. They said that the Time Gears were returned to their proper places, but time was still stopped there. And even worse, the time stop is spreading…" Jade reported.

Grovyle cursed. "That means… That means that Temporal Tower has begun to collapse. Soon the planet will be paralyzed…"

"Oh schist… That's not good," Jade said.

Grovyle stood up. "That means that we have to act now. We need to gather up the remaining Time Gears and head to Temporal Tower as soon as possible."

"Where is Temporal Tower anyway?" Jade asked.

"Temporal Tower is supposedly in a place known as the Hidden Land. As the name implies, the Hidden Land is a land that is, well, hidden. No one has ever found the Hidden Land, so it may not even be a real place…

"There are many legends about the Hidden Land, but according to legend, Temporal Tower should be there… Keep in mind, this is all a legend, so it may not be true…" Grovyle added quickly.

"Whoa… That sounds cool…" I said in awe.

There was a long silence while Jade and I digested the information. Then Grovyle began to make his way to the staircase.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I think that we should split up from here. I'll continue collecting the Time Gears. You two should focus on finding the Hidden Land. Is that okay?" Grovyle said.

"It's okay, but… I don't want you to get hurt…" Jade said, turning really red.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You two should look after yourselves, okay?" Grovyle said.

"O…Okay. Good luck, Grovyle," Jade said.

"Thanks. You too." Grovyle turned around and made his way up the staircase.

Jade turned to me, her face very red. "I'm worried about him. I don't want him to get caught…"

"Jade, don't try to hide it. I know you like him," I said, cracking a smile.

"Emile! So what if I like him? That's none of your business!" she cried.

"Hey! You were the one who wanted to know about Grovyle and Celebi's relationship in the future!" I said.

"Just… please shut up," Jade muttered, her entire face as red as a Charmander.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?" I said.

"Yeah… Just don't say anything like that again or I will… I will…" She probably couldn't think of anything painful enough for me.

"Okay, Jade. Do you have any idea about where the Hidden Land might be?" I asked, hastily changing the subject.

"I don't know… I would think that it would be far away from the mainland, so… maybe it's by the ocean?" Jade said.

"Well, why don't we go down to the beach? There might be a clue there," I said, standing up on my bed.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look," Jade said.

Soon we were down at the beach, watching the sun sink down over the ocean.

"Um, so here we are, and here's the beach, and… um…" Jade said, looking around.

"I don't notice anything out of the ordinary," I said.

"Ugh… At this rate, we'll never figure anything out about the… Hidden… Holy schist, Emile! Look at THAT!" Jade trailed off and pointed to something off in the distance.

A shadowy figure appeared to be swimming across the sunset. It had a long neck and a large body that looked like a shell. Most of its features were submerged under the water.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That's a good question. What _is _that?" Jade said.

The shadow continued to swim across the sunset until it vanished behind some rocks.

"What was that?" I asked again.

"I have no idea…" Jade sighed. "Ugh… We're running out of time, and we still don't have any leads. What should we do?"

_Hmm… That's a good question… what SHOULD we do? _Then it came to me.

"Hey… Let's go back to the guild," I said.

"What?" Jade cried. "I mean, I'd really like to go back to the guild and stuff, but… why should we go?"

"We need all the help we can get. If we told everyone at the guild, we might be able to find the Hidden Land easer," I explained patiently.

"But… what if they don't believe us? I mean, two Pokémon's words aren't enough to convince them…" Jade said.

"Let's tell them anyway," I said.

"But… they probably won't believe us… It's just too far-fetched…" Jade said.

"They have to believe us!" I said firmly. "If they don't believe us, the world is doomed!"

"Yeah…" Jade looked down.

"So, c'mon, Jade. Let's go back to the guild. Back to our home…" I looked up at the cliff.

"Yeah," Jade said.

And with Jade in tow, I walked up to the cliff where Wigglytuff's Guild lay.

XxX

"Oh, boy, I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we do this," Jade said with relish.

We were standing right by the security grate outside of Wigglytuff's Guild. There was a large barred door over the entrance, so we couldn't just barge in. We had to stand on the security grate and do the whole "Pokémon detected" thing.

"All right, Jade. Let's do this," I said, clutching Jade's hand.

"Okay," Jade muttered with a smile.

And we stepped onto the security grate.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Diglett said.

"Whose footprint? Who's footprint?" Loudred barked.

"The footprint is…" Diglett gasped. "I'm about to do something you won't like… I'm sorry!"

"DIGLETT?! WHERE do you think YOU'RE GOING?!" Loudred roared.

There was a small disturbance in the ground, like a tiny earthquake. A second later, a familiar face popped out of the ground.

"Oh my— it's Emile and Jade! Emile and Jade are here!" Diglett called.

"Did you say Emile and Jade?" Loudred called.

"Yeah! Emile and Jade are back!" Diglett responded.

The ground rumbled some more, and the metal gate was lifted. The next thing I knew, all of our fellow apprentices were stampeding out, yelling "Emile! Jade!"

I was incredibly happy to see everyone. Sunflora, Chimecho, Loudred, Diglett, Dugtrio, Bidoof, Corphish, Chatot and Croagunk all appeared from the guild and swarmed us, chattering excitedly.

But then Wigglytuff walked out of the guild and grinned at us. "Friendly friends! I'm so happy you're back!" he said, arms wide open. I was probably the most excited to see him. He was just so silly and cheerful that even I could forget about all my problems.

"Hey, Wigglytuff!" I said.

Wigglytuff beamed at us. "Welcome home friends."

"Aw, thank you, Wigglytuff!" I said.

"So what happened? Where were you? Why didn't you tell us where you were going?" everyone asked.

"Everyone! Calm down and we'll tell you when we get into the guild," I said, raising my arms.

We were herded in to the guild's second sublevel, where Wigglytuff and Chatot usually made announcements. Once all the chattering of all the Pokémon died down, Jade and I launched into our explanation about what had happened.

Once we got to the part about Grovyle being the good guy and Dusknoir being the bad guy, I could tell we were losing attention. Everyone began to stare at us with states of shock on their faces.

We described our escape from Dusknoir, our journey to find Grovyle, our meeting with Celebi, and our brave escape back to the past. Then we began talking about our Treeshroud Forest Time Gear raid, our suspicions about the planet's paralysis, our hunch about the Hidden Land… all the way up into the present.

"…And that's what happened," Jade concluded.

"I know it's hard for you to believe, but it's the truth," I added.

Nobody responded. Everyone just stared at us.

"…Chatot? Do you believe us?" I asked the bird.

I expected Chatot to say something like, "Squawk! The Hidden Land? I know all about that!" or "Dusknoir is the villain here? I suspected as much!"

But instead, he began to laugh.

"Hee! Hee hee hee!" he giggled.

"What? What's so funny?" Jade demanded.

"You guys must've just had a bad dream or something! There's absolutely _no way _that something like that could happen!" Chatot said cheerfully.

"What?! No! We're telling the truth!" I said.

But Chatot continued to laugh.

It was just as Jade feared: no one believed us. And if no one believed us, then we'd be all alone. And if we were all alone, it would make finding the Hidden Land hard, if not impossible.

But we would have to make everyone see the truth. The fate of the entire world was at stake here. We had to make everyone believe us. We had to.

"I mean, really! The great Dusknoir; the _villain_? There's no way that could be true! We don't call him the _great _Dusknoir because he's a villain!" Chatot scanned the crowd. "Really! Does anyone believe these two?"

One of Dugtrio's heads said, "We hold Dusknoir to the highest esteem. We cannot believe that he is the true bad guy."

Jade cursed at Dugtrio for a minute. Then she turned to face everyone. "We're telling the truth here. Dusknoir wants us dead. Grovyle wants to save the world."

"I don't want to hear any more of this! Now, you two go get some rest. Maybe when you wake up, you'll accept the fact that none of this is possible! Now, _get out!_" Chatot growled.

"Chatot…" Jade said sadly.

"Get out. I won't say it again," Chatot said.

"Look, someone has to believe us! Does anyone believe us? If you don't believe us, the world is going to end!" I said.

There was the longest pause.

Then Sunflora spoke up.

"Say, I don't get something… Back when Dusknoir took Grovyle back to the future… He insisted that Emile and Jade some and talk to him before he left… But didn't he say something like 'You're coming with me!'? Then he dragged Emile and Jade into the Dimensional Hole, right?" she said.

"Wait! Are you saying that you believe these two?" Chatot asked, astounded.

"Well…" Sunflora said.

"I thought so! Now, you two! Go to your rooms now!" Chatot said, turning to us with an angry look on his face. He began to lead us to our rooms…

"W-wait! I believe them!" Bidoof said frantically.

"What the—Bidoof?" Chatot cried. "What do you MEAN you believe them?!"

"Oof! It's really hard to believe that Dusknoir's the bad guy and all, but… Emile and Jade are my friends. I would always believe them! If Emile claims he's a human from the future, I'll believe him! If Jade claims she's been to the future, I'll believe her!" Bidoof said boldly.

"Bidoof—" Chatot cried. But Bidoof was on a roll now.

"Golly, I sure thing highly of the great Dusknoir, but Emile and Jade are more important! They're true friends! And you just don't give up on true friends!" Bidoof said.

"B-Bidoof…" Jade said. She looked and sounded like she was about to cry.

"So? Everyone else said they didn't believe them!" Chatot said.

"Are you suuuuure?" Sunflora said.

"What? Sunflora—" Chatot began.

"I believe them too! They're my very best friends and I would never mistrust them!" she said.

Even Jade, who wasn't too fond of Sunflora, seemed happy that she believed us.

"S-Sunflora…" she said softly.

"Yeah! I believe them too!" Chimecho spoke up.

"Same here, hey, hey!" Corphish said.

"I believe them!" Loudred said. "I don't know about YOU guys, but I BELIEVE MY FRIENDS!"

"Meh-heh-heh… I believe them as well…" Croagunk snickered.

"Daddy and I believe them! Right, daddy?" Diglett said.

"Right, son. We completely believe them," Dugtrio said.

"What?! All of you… BELIEVE their stupid story?!" Chatot cried.

"YEAH!" everyone chorused.

"What the…" Chatot muttered, holding his head with his wings.

"Well, hiya! It looks like we're all in agreement here…" Wigglytuff said.

"Wait a SECOND, Wigglytuff," Loudred said. "SOMEONE here is STILL not believing them!" He jabbed an angry finger at Chatot.

"Nope! Chatot believes them too, right?" Wigglytuff said, looking at Chatot with his eyebrows raised.

There was another long silence.

But then Chatot finally spoke up.

"Hee… hee… hee… I… Well, I can't hide it from you, Guildmaster. I believed them the whole time… Yeah! Totally! I was just… er… testing your friendship! Yeah! Totally!" he said frantically. He looked around at everyone and giggled some more.

"Hee! Hee hee! Hee hee hee hee hee… HEE! HEEEEEEEEE!" Chatot then raced up the ladder and disappeared from sight.

"Well! Now that that's all sorted out… Friends! From here on out, we will be searching for the Hidden Land! It's gonna get very busy around here! Are you ready?" Wigglytuff said.

"YEAH!" everyone cried.

"Okay then! We're gonna find the Hidden Land and save the world! YOOM… TAH!" Wigglytuff said cheerfully.

"HOORAY!" We all dispersed to our stations to do our work.

"So, Wigglytuff, what do we do now?" I asked.

"I think you should go look for someone who knows about the Hidden Land," Wigglytuff said.

"Hmm… Someone who knows about the Hidden Land…" Jade mused.

"Wait. Jade, do you remember that Torkoal at the Hot Spring? He said he was very wise and knew a lot about legends and lore. Maybe he knows about the Hidden Land," I said.

"Oh! Him! You're right! Maybe he knows about it!" Jade said.

"Why don't we go and talk to him?" I asked.

"That sounds like a super idea, but… Why don't you go rest in your rooms? You've been through a lot, and I bet you're very exhausted," Wigglytuff suggested.

As if on cue, Jade yawned. "That does sound like a good idea…"

"Well, goodnight, Wigglytuff!" I said.

"Goodnight, friends. And welcome home!"

Jade and I walked to our room and sat down on our straw bed.

"It's good to be home," I said.

But Jade was already passed out on her bed.

_Whew! She is really tired… It is still good to be home, though… At least now we don't have to worry about the Sableye, _I thought.

I laid down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling for a little while. Then I yawned.

"Goodnight, Jade," I whispered.

Then my fatigue overtook me, and I fell asleep.

_I'm so glad to be home._


	33. Chapter 32: I Saw Something Again

**We're getting closer to the end with every passing chapter...**

Chapter 32: I Saw Something Again...

We figured that the most direct route to the Hot Spring was through the trapped crystal at Waterfall Cave. When we visited Waterfall Cave, it really struck me how strong we were. The Pokémon there would always fall in one hit.

Once we got to the bottom of the cave, we saw the large pink crystal that would summon a tidal wave if it was tampered with. It appeared to be the only route to get to the Hot Spring.

"So, are you ready?" Jade asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said.

"Okay. I'll push it…" Jade said.

She pushed it forward with a _click, _and the next thing I knew, Jade and I were riding on top of the tsunami. Jade giggled through the entire ride as if riding on a wave was the most fun thing in the world.

_WHOOSH! _Then the wave spat us up into the sky like before. Jade cried, "WHEEE!" and I blacked out once again.

XxX

I woke up in the pleasantly warm water of the Hot Spring. The Hot Spring's inhabitant's had changed. Ursaring and Teddiursa were gone. Now, several Mankey were the main inhabitants.

Next to me, I heard Jade slowly waking up. "Whew… That was AWESOME!" she said, sitting up.

"Ah! It's you two again!" I recognized the speaker as the elderly Torkoal that we had met the first time we crash landed in the Hot Spring. "Have you come to relax your body and soothe your soul again?"

"Actually, we have an issue that we want to discuss with you…" Jade said.

We filled Torkoal in on our current predicament while the warm water bubbled around us. It felt good to relax in the Hot Spring after all we've been through. I seriously doubt there was a hot spring like this in the dark future.

Once we finished, Torkoal nodded. "Uh-huh… So you're looking for the Hidden Land, huh…"

"And we were hoping that you know something about it," Jade said.

"Do you know anything about the Hidden Land?" I asked.

"…Yes. I do know a little something about the Hidden Land…" Torkoal said.

"Well? Tell us about it! We need to know about it!" I said.

"You do know that the Hidden Land is a legend, so it may not be true… It's a very old legend, passed down for centuries by word of mouth…"

"Just tell us!" Jade said.

"Okay… Golly, you youngsters are so impatient these days… Anyway, the Hidden Land is a faraway place that can only be accessed by those chosen…" Torkoal said. "I don't know how one gets chosen, but…"

"How do you know if you can access the Hidden Land?" I pressed.

Torkoal opened his mouth to answer, but then he tilted his head as if confused. "Er… what was it again?"

"What?" Jade said.

"Ugh… Don't tell me you forgot…" I sighed.

"Er… I'm quite sorry. But I have forgotten… My old brain is really forgetful now that I'm an old geezer…" Torkoal apologized.

"It's okay," Jade said, but her tone made it clear that it was not okay. "C'mon, Emile, let's—"

"Wait!" Torkoal said suddenly.

I gasped. "Did you remember it?"

"Well, I did remember something…" Torkoal said.

"Tell us! Tell us!" Jade pressured.

"Well, to enter the Hidden Land, you need proof," Torkoal said.

"Proof of what?" Jade asked excitedly.

"Proof of…" Torkoal tilted his head again. "Oh, blast it all! I forgot again…"

"Ugh…" Jade sighed. "We go all this way just to have Torkoal forget all about the Hidden Land. Talk about infuriating!"

"Thanks anyway, Torkoal. We're still mostly in the dark, but at least we know we need some sort of proof to enter," I said, glaring at Jade.

"I'll let you know if I remember anything more," Torkoal said.

"Okay. Thanks again," I said.

Jade and I touched our badges, and we teleported back to the guild in a column of light.

We reported our findings to everyone at the guild. Everyone listened intently, but when we finished our short explanation, I could tell everyone was disappointed that we didn't find out anything else.

"We're really sorry that we couldn't find out more, but Torkoal must've been really forgetful today. He did say that he'd tell us if he remembered anything else, so he might know more…" I said.

"Okay! Today has been a very good day. We have found out something about the Hidden Land, even if it's small. We will continue our efforts tomorrow. Together, we will find the Hidden Land!" Chatot said. He looked very nervous, and he kept looking at Wigglytuff as if he expected him to "YOOM… TAH!" him to death.

"HOORAY!" we cheered.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. We had dinner as usual and went to bed soon after. Jade ranted on about how forgetful and unreliable old geezers like Torkoal were, but eventually she calmed down and sat down on her bed.

I kind of agreed with Jade, but I didn't blame Torkoal. I blamed Torkoal's bad memory. But then again, I had no memory when I first arrived in this world. _Well, we didn't learn too much about the Hidden Land, but we at least know something about it, _I thought to myself. I closed my eyes, and soon I was asleep.

XxX

"Today I want you to continue the search for the Hidden Land. Even if you just go to Treasure Town and ask around about the Hidden Land, it's better than just doing nothing," Chatot said. "Do you understand what is expected of you?"

"Understood," we said.

"Good. Very—"

Chatot was suddenly interrupted by Diglett, who appeared to be on Sentry Duty.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" he cried.

"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Loudred asked.

"The footprint is… the town elder, Torkoal!" Diglett responded.

"Tell him to come on in!" Loudred said.

"Whoa! Maybe Torkoal remembered something else about the Hidden Land!" Jade said, her eyes shining with excitement.

Quite a while later, Torkoal began to pull himself down the ladder. He was really slow, and it took him five minutes to get to the bottom.

"Hello, Torkoal!" I said as Torkoal lugged himself down off the ladder.

"Huff… puff… Whew! What a hike! That really gave my old body a workout," Torkoal puffed.

"What brings you here, Torkoal?" Chatot asked.

"Well, yesterday, I was thinking about the Hidden Land, and then I remembered something," he said.

"You did? Do tell us!" Jade said.

"Okay, okay, but I only remembered a really small detail. It may not help you, but…"

"Tell us! Anything will help!" I said.

"Okay… Do you know how I said that you needed proof to enter the Hidden Land? Well, I remembered something about that proof," Torkoal said.

"Hurry up and tell us!" I said.

"Well, that proof has a pattern on it. A very odd and intricate pattern that you don't see every day," Torkoal said. "That's all I remember…"

"An odd pattern…" Jade mused.

_An odd pattern that you don't see every day… Why do those words sound so… familiar? _Then I gasped. I remembered where I had heard those words before.

_"__See the pattern etched onto this? It's really weird." _I remembered those words from when Jade was describing her Relic Fragment…

"Jade," I said, shaking her shoulder.

"What?" she asked.

"Your Relic Fragment," I said.

"My—" Then it dawned on her. "Holy schist, could my Relic Fragment be the key to entering the Hidden Land?!"

"It could be. Take it out," Jade said.

She reached into our Explorer Bag, took out her Relic Fragment, and placed it on the ground. "Hey, Torkoal, could this be what you mean by 'a very odd and intricate pattern'?" she asked.

Torkoal walked up to the Relic Fragment and examined it closely. After a minute, he gasped.

"That's it! That's the proof!" he said.

Chatot and Wigglytuff walked up to it and examined it. They glanced at each other and began to whisper to each other.

"So you're saying I can go to the Hidden Land?" Jade asked.

"I suppose, but why are you so interested in the Hidden Land? Are you actually trying to find it?" he asked.

"Yes we are," Wigglytuff said brightly.

"My, my… You do know that the Hidden Land is only a legend, right?" Torkoal asked.

"It may be real," I countered.

"Well, whatever. I won't try to stop you from reaching the Hidden Land. Now, I must be going. Good luck searching." Torkoal began to slowly climb up the ladder.

"Thanks for the help, Torkoal!" I called after him.

"You're welcome!" Torkoal called down.

"Say, we've seen this pattern, haven't we, Chatot?" Wigglytuff said to the parrot.

"Yeah. We've seen this in that place with that vicious thief," Chatot said.

Everyone gasped. _Vicious thief? _I couldn't help but think of Team Skull, but I bet not even Skuntank was the vicious bandit… right?

"Everyone! You are dismissed," Chatot said quickly. The assembly broke up, and everyone began to talk about the Hidden Land.

Wigglytuff and Chatot were talking amongst themselves, too.

"But Guildmaster! I have to go back there!" Chatot insisted.

"No. I can't have you go back there again. Not after last time…" Wigglytuff said, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Guildmaster, I have matured. I can handle them. I know you're concerned about me, but… Just let me go," Chatot said.

"Nope… I'm sorry." Then the topic shifted slightly. "I have something to do tomorrow, so you'll be on your own. If you want to go, you should join Team Aura."

Jade's mouth dropped open. "He's going with US?!"

"Well, I guess we're going to wherever that place is with Mr. Birdbrain soon. We'd better get prepared," I said.

"Yeah…" Jade sighed.

"Well then, c'mon. Let's go to Treasure Town to prepare."

XxX

We stopped at the Kecleon Shop to buy two Reviver Seeds and a Spurn Orb. After that, we stopped by the Duskull Bank and deposited the rest of our Poké. We made one last trip to the Kangaskhan Storage to drop off some items.

I saw Jade withdraw two green TMs and place one on her forehead. A second later, the TM turned gray. Jade took the TM away from her forehead and informed me that she had learned Energy Ball. Then she repeated the process and said that she had learned Giga Drain.

"I might as well be prepared for whatever the next day brings," Jade said as she tossed aside the two gray TMs.

She convinced me to use the Focus Punch TM that we got from Mt. Horn. "There might be some tough Rock types in there. It's better to be safe than sorry," she reasoned.

We were just about to return to the guild when Jade convinced me to go to Sharpedo Bluff to see if Grovyle had returned. When we got there, we found that Grovyle was nowhere to be found, but we did find something.

"Hey look, a note," I said, picking up a small piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Jade asked.

"I'll read it," I said.

The note said this:

_Emile and Jade,_

_I have collected a total of three  
Time Gears now. I have also learned  
from Uxie that everyone believes you  
now. While that is good news, I  
would like to stay hidden for now.  
For one, I'm not entirely sure if  
everyone believes I'm innocent, and  
there's always the possibility that  
Dusknoir will find me again._

"Ugh… Dusknoir… I was hoping he'd just stay in the future, where he belongs…" Jade groaned.

"Wait, there's more…" I continued to read the letter.

_I should have the remaining  
Time Gears soon. If we need to  
meet, find me either here or at  
the beach. Together, we will stop  
the collapse of Temporal Tower  
and stop the planet's paralysis._

_-Grovyle _

"Well, it's good to know that Grovyle's okay," I said.

"Yeah… Hey! He said that if we had to meet, he'd be on the beach! So… why don't we go check out the beach?" Jade said.

"Well, I wouldn't hurt to look," I said.

A few minutes later, we were down at the beach, watching the ocean shimmer in the setting sun.

Jade and I looked around, but we couldn't find Grovyle anywhere.

"He must not be here," I said.

"No dur! Of course he's not here!" Jade said.

"Sheesh," I muttered.

"Hey, Emile…" Jade took out her Relic Fragment and set it down on the sand. "If you think about it, it's kind of ironic. Our journey began with my Relic Fragment, and it will end with my Relic Fragment," Jade said, chuckling.

"It is," I agreed.

"…I'm sorry. I'm just rambling," Jade muttered.

"It's fine, it's fine," I said.

"…So, do you wanna go back to the guild?" Jade asked.

"Sure. It's almost dinner time anyway, and I don't want to miss dinner," I said.

"Okay," Jade said.

The rest of the night passed without incident. Chatot informed us that he would be accompanying us to a place called Brine Cave tomorrow. ("Great. Just great.") Chatot and Wigglytuff said that they had once seen a pattern in Brine Cave that was identical to the pattern on Jade's Relic Fragment.

"So go get some sleep. We'll all set out tomorrow," Chatot said.

"Okay," I said.

Dinner passed, and Jade and I went to our rooms and went to bed, ready for tomorrow.


	34. Chapter 33: Brine Cave

**Brine Cave: The EASIEST dungeon in the game. (For me, at least. I was a Riolu and my partner was a Chikorita... Sound familiar? :D) But it's _unspeakably_ hard if you're a Fire type.**

Chapter 33: Brine Cave

"UP AND AT EM! IT'S MORNING!" Loudred yelled.

"Ugh… Are you ready to go to Brine Cave?" Jade groaned.

Jade and I went into the main room for our daily briefing and were quite surprised to see that Wigglytuff was missing.

"Where'd Wigglytuff go?" Jade asked.

"The Guildmaster is currently… away. But that doesn't mean you don't have a Guildmaster! Until Wigglytuff returns, you have me as your Guildmaster!" Chatot said.

There was an incredibly long and awkward silence following Chatot's announcement.

"Um… Hello? Why aren't you guys happy? You should be proud to have me as your Guildmaster!" Chatot said. "I mean, I am pretty good at being the boss!"

"Man, what an ego," Jade whispered to me.

Then Chatot sniffled. "D-do you doubt my ability as a leader? Am I nothing to you?" he cried.

"Naw, that's not it at all… It's just… It doesn't feel safe here without the Guildmaster…" Bidoof said cautiously.

"I agree… But we need to push on! With or without the Guildmaster!" Chimecho said.

"YEAH! Chimecho's RIGHT! We CAN'T give up now!" Loudred said.

"That's the spirit, apprentices! Now, let's all excel together!" Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" we cried.

The assembly broke up, and our fellow apprentices left to prepare for the trip to Brine Cave.

About ten minutes later, everyone was ready for the expedition. Chatot called another assembly, and he reviewed the rules. Everyone expressed boredom while Chatot reviewed the rules, and I had the feeling that they'd all heard the rules many times before.

"Are we gonna get GOING, or are we just gonna SIT HERE and review rules that we ALREADY KNOW?! Let's just go!" Loudred sighed after Chatot's lecture was over.

"Yes, yes, okay! Let's move on out," Chatot said.

XxX

Brine Cave wasn't too far away from the guild. In less than half an hour we were standing at the mouth of a large cave that I assumed was Brine Cave.

"So, here we are at Brine Cave. The Guildmaster and I once saw the pattern on Jade's Relic Fragment here," Chatot said. "However, that was also where the vicious Pokémon was the last time we were here…"

"Um… Chatot? Do you remember what the vicious Pokémon looked like?" Bidoof asked.

Chatot tilted his head as if considering the question. After a minute of consideration, he looked down and muttered, "No."

"What? You don't remember what it looked like?" Jade said.

"No… The first time the Guildmaster and I came here, the Pokémon took us by surprise. I was knocked out immediately, and when I came around again, Wigglytuff was tending to my wounds…" Chatot recalled.

"By gosh and golly! I don't want to end up like you!" Bidoof said.

"You won't. I assure you, you won't end up like me," Chatot assured Bidoof.

"And you're sure you don't remember what they looked like," Jade asked.

"…Well, actually, I do recall getting slammed by a wall of water, like a tidal wave… I also think that there was more than one vicious Pokémon there…" Chatot said after a minute of thinking.

"So it was probably a Water type?" Jade asked. "Well, it should be no problem for me. My Energy Ball move will wreck pretty much any Water type I come across," Jade said confidently.

"Don't get too cocky. I thought that I was prepared for anything I was going to face there, and…" Chatot trailed off.

"Hey, don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself. As annoying as you are, I don't want you getting hurt again," Jade said with a smile.

"How dare you call your own Guildmaster annoying?!" Chatot cried.

"Um, guys? Can we get going?" I interrupted.

"Er, yes—sure. Sorry. Just got a little sidetracked… Let's go," Chatot said.

And with Jade and Chatot following close behind, I entered the cave.

Brine Cave reminded me of Beach Cave: it had blue walls that appeared to be made of coral, the ground was wet, and a strong scent of seawater lingered. It even housed some of the same Pokémon. But now there were unfamiliar Pokémon like Seels and Omanytes that posed no challenge to me. They'd fall to only one Force Palm or Brick Break. Easy-peasy.

Chatot proved to be surprisingly useful. He was weak to Seel's Ice type attacks and Omanyte's Rock attacks, but he didn't use up any Reviver Seeds. Occasionally he'd use Mirror Move and reflect any opposing Pokémon's attacks back at them, or use Fury Attack to hit the enemy multiple times.

"Wow, are you actually doing something other than call yourself a genius and lecture us to death?" Jade said sarcastically.

"B-but I am a genius!" Chatot whined.

"As if to prove my point, Chatot then calls himself a genius. What an ego!" Jade snickered.

We continued through the last bit of Brine Cave with little to no issue and no wasted Reviver Seeds. The only item that we used was a Max Elixir on Jade. All in all, Brine Cave was a very easy dungeon.

After the ninth floor, we broke into a relay point with a familiar Kangaskhan Rock.

"Whew! We're really deep in Brine Cave," I said.

"Yeah. Any lower and we might reach the center of the Earth!" Jade said.

"Yes, yes, that's great. We should be getting close to the place where we saw the pattern on Jade's Relic Fragment," Chatot said.

"Ooh, Relic Fragment? That's a catchy name!" It was the last voice I expected to hear in a place like this.

I turned around and saw a very familiar Koffing, Zubat, and Skuntank standing at the entrance, leering unpleasantly at us.

"Oh, there you are, you three! When we lost you during the expedition, I got incredibly worried for your safety… What happened?" Chatot said huskily, walking up to the trio.

"Heh-heh-heh! You idiot! You still believe that we're good guys?" Zubat laughed.

"Well, yes…" Chatot said. "Why? What do you mean?"

"Would you call… THIS nice?" Skuntank said. He ran up to Jade and rammed into her, causing her to drop her Relic Fragment. Skuntank walked over to it, picked it up, and put it in his Explorer Bag.

"What the—" Jade let lose several very nasty words.

"Why did you steal Jade's Relic Fragment?" Chatot asked.

"Whoa-ho-ho! You're too dumb to get it, right? We're thieves. You remember when Emily and Jade—" Koffing began.

"MY! NAME! IS! NOT! EMILY!" I screamed.

"—were telling you that we were thieves? Well, you were such an idiot back then to realize that they were telling the truth! But whatever. That worked out just fine for us!" Koffing finished. He didn't even glance at me.

"Oh, you… Give Jade's Relic Fragment back now!" Chatot said.

"No sir! We know about this Relic Fragment's secret! We know that it can be used to access the Hidden Land! And mark my words, we're gonna be the ones to find it! Chaw-haw-haw! See ya, suckers!" Skuntank said. The trio ran on ahead before we could do anything.

"I'm going to kill them," Chatot said, a murderous glint in his eyes. He ran on after Team Skull.

"Wait! Chatot!" I called. But he was already gone.

"I hope that he doesn't run into those vicious bandits," Jade said. She gasped. "Wait. What am I SAYING?! Why do I care if Chatot runs into those bandits?"

"We should go ahead, though. Are you all rested up?" I asked.

"I'm gonna get my Relic Fragment back if it's the last thing I do!" Jade stormed ahead. I followed her.

Lower Brine Cave was just as easy as the first part. Staryus and Walreins jumped out at us, but one move from Jade and they'd be no more. Sometimes Jade would get tripped up on a Walrein and get in trouble, but I would quickly follow up with one of my Fighting type attacks and the Walrein would go down.

At one point I decided to try out Focus Punch on a Dewgong that was pestering Jade. I clenched my fists and I felt power welling up in me. The Dewgong got in an attack, but I didn't care. After a minute, I felt the stored up energy in me release, and I punched the Dewgong with my bare hand. The Dewgong disintegrated.

"Holy schist, Emile! I had no idea that Focus Punch is that powerful!" Jade gasped.

I was pretty much speechless. As a human, I surely would've broken my hand trying to punch something that hard. But as a Pokémon I was, like, one hundred times more powerful. If I had to choose between staying as a human or a Pokémon, I would choose to stay as a Pokémon.

We continued through the cave. I rarely used Focus Punch, as it took a long time to charge up and was way too overpowered for anything in the cave. But that wasn't much of a problem, as everything would fall to a well-timed Brick Break or Force Palm.

Once we passed the fifth floor, we emerged in a rocky and very wet room that would be no different from the rest of the rocky rooms we had been to if it weren't for the three Pokémon lying on the ground.

Koffing, Zubat, and Skuntank were collapsed on the ground, their breathing slow, their bodies bruised, their mouths open and groaning in pain. It was pitiful to watch. Jade's Relic Fragment was clutched in Skuntank's grubby paws.

"Team Skull?!" Jade exclaimed.

"Chaw… haw… hey there, Jade…" Skuntank groaned.

"What happened?" Jade demanded. "Did you get hurt by the bandits?"  
"Heh heh… Naw… Chatot caught up to us… He said a few choice words… Ouch! They really stung! Then he gave us a beating and left us here…" Zubat said. He paused for a moment to cough. "And then he ran on ahead."

"Are you okay?" Jade asked.

"Why are you… so concerned about… us? You said that you hated us… several times…" Skuntank said.

"Look, I'm just asking if you're okay because… well, I can't just ignore someone in pain," Jade said. "That, and if you're okay, then I'll just have to change that."

"Whoa ho… ho… You're as spunky as ever, I see…" Koffing muttered.

"We're just fine. Don't worry about us," Zubat said.

Skuntank summoned up the last of his strength and tossed Jade's Relic Fragment at us.

"What the—" Jade said, staring at the Relic Fragment that Skuntank had thrown at us.

"Chaw… haw… Oh, my. How unlike me. The Relic Fragment… slipped out of my hands. And we're too weak to get it again…" Skuntank said. He winced in pain and swallowed hard.

"Skuntank, why—" I began.

"What? You thought that I would give such a treasure back on purpose? Chaw… haw… haw… no. We're thieves. It simply slipped from my hands. And oh no… now Jade's gonna steal it back," he said, his voice expressionless.

"So you're saying that we could just pick it up? And you won't try to attack us when we pick it up?" Jade said cautiously.

"Chaw haw… Attack? We're too weak…" Skuntank murmured.

"Are you sure?" I asked, leaning in close.

"I'm sure."

Jade took a step forward. When the trio didn't do anything, she took another step forward. Then another. And another.

She reached down and picked up her Relic Fragment and quickly got back up, glancing at the thieves as if she expected them to attack them. She slowly backed away from the trio and gave the Relic Fragment to me. I put it in a side section of my Explorer Bag and buttoned it up. It would (hopefully) be safe from anyone who wanted to steal it.

"Oh no. She took back her Relic Fragment…" Skuntank said. Koffing and Zubat laughed weakly.

"Will you be able to get out of here safely? I don't want those bandits to get you," Jade said.

"We'll be fine. Don't worry about us. Just worry about yourself… and Chatot," Skuntank said.

"Chatot! Where is he?" Jade gasped.

"He ran ahead…" Zubat said, barely lifting his wing to gesture to the exit in front of us.

"Okay. Thanks." Jade and I walked to the exit, leaving Koffing, Zubat, and Skuntank alone. But just before we left the room, Skuntank said, "Hey, you two. If we ever meet again… don't expect us to go easy on you."

"Okay. We'll remember that," I said with a smile.

"See ya later, Skuntank," Jade said.

"Chaw haw… See ya…"

And leaving Team Skull behind, we walked forward into the depths of the pit…

After a few minutes of walking through the rocky corridor, we came across another clearing that was much bigger than the last one. In the middle of the clearing was Chatot, who was nervously looking around. His feathers were wet and ruffled up, and he was bruised in some places, but otherwise he looked fine.

"Ah! Hello, you two! I see you've caught up to me," he said.

"Hey, Chatot… Why are you here?" I asked.

"This is the place where the crooks attacked us," Chatot said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Oh…" Jade said meekly.

"But I don't see anyone!" I said.

Chatot paused and looked up… Then he gasped.

"You two! Watch out! They're above us!" Chatot cried.

"What?!" we cried.

Chatot stumbled back, and in a second, a Kabutops and two Omastars dropped down from the ceiling. Jade began to laugh.

"Ha! These are the vicious bandits you're worried about? I could take these guys out with my Giga Drain!" Jade scoffed.

"Don't underestimate us, missy! I'm Kabutops—" the Kabutops said.

"—and we're the Omastar Brothers!" the Omastars said together.

The trio noticed Chatot. "Hey there! It's that shrimp that we took out last time! You still have the _nerve _to come here after last time?" Kabutops laughed.

"…Erk… I've matured! I can take one of your attacks!" Chatot said confidently.

"You say you can take an attack? Well… Take… THIS!" Kabutops said.

Then a lot of things happened at once. Kabutops and the Omastar charged at us. Chatot cried, "Look out!" and jumped in front of us. My vision went white…

When everything cleared, Chatot lay in front of me, his body broken and bloody. One of his wings was bent at a bad angle. He was struggling to stay conscious.

"Urk…" he groaned.

"Chatot!" I cried.

"Now… We'll do the same to you!" Kabutops roared. The trio charged at us…

Jade used Giga Drain and defeated Omastar number one. I used Force Palm and took out Omastar number two. Kabutops advanced on me, but before he could attack me, Jade's Energy Ball hit him in the back. I delivered one direct Force Palm and Kabutops was history.

Yeah. It was that easy. Stupid anti-climaxes.

"Ugh… You two are pretty strong for such weaklings…" Kabutops groaned.

"Are you three gonna stick around for round two? Or are you gonna skedaddle?" Jade asked.

"…You know what that means, right?" Kabutops asked.

"Run! Run away!" one of the Omastars said.

The three Pokémon raced away.

"Chatot! Are you okay?" I said as I ran over to Chatot.

"Ugh… I'm fine…" Chatot groaned.

"I'm sure we have an Oran Berry in here…" I said, unfastening my Explorer Bag. But there were no Oran Berries to be found…

"Chatot!" The voice—or voices—sounded from behind us. I turned around and saw all of our fellow guild members running up to Chatot with worried expressions.

"Chatot, what happened?" Croagunk asked.

"Those three… got me again…" Chatot grunted.

"Oh my gosh! Is he gonna be okay?" Sunflora squealed.

"Yup! He should be just fine." It was Wigglytuff. Wigglytuff was escorting a Pokémon behind him, and as Wigglytuff drew closer, I recognized the Pokémon as—

"Grovyle!" Jade cried. She ran up to him, excitement on her face.

"Hey there, Jade! Emile! How are you doing?" Grovyle said.

"We're pretty good," I said.

Grovyle wasn't met with such a warm reception from everyone else. Even though Jade and I had explained the truth to everybody, they were still kind of unsure about Grovyle.

"Wah! I-it's Grovyle!" Bidoof cried, stumbling back.

"No! Please don't hurt us!" Chimecho begged.

"I don't wanna be mugged!" Corphish said.

Wigglytuff pierced through the chatter. "Everyone! Listen! Grovyle is a friend. Emile and Jade told you that, remember?" he said.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna mug you or hurt you or anything like that," Grovyle assured us.

"See?" Wigglytuff said. "He's our friend!"

Grovyle smiled. Then his smile wavered slightly.

"What's up?" he asked, glancing at everyone, who was gathered around the broken Chatot.

"Chatot's been hurt badly…" Sunflora said.

"Let me see," Grovyle said. He approached Chatot and placed his hand over his chest. After a minute, he looked up and pronounced, "He'll live."

Everybody began to cheer and yell, "Woo! Chatot's okay!"

"However—" Grovyle said, piercing through the din. "He will need extensive medical treatment. You'll have to take him back to the guild."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get back to the guild!" Jade said.

"No." The firmness of Wigglytuff's voice took me by surprise. "Emile, Jade, Grovyle… You three need to keep going. The pattern on your Relic Fragment is up ahead. You need to keep going… you need to reach the Hidden Land and save the world!"

"W-Wigglytuff…" Jade stammered.

"He's right. You need to go to the Hidden Land. We'll take care of Chatot," Chimecho said.

"You guys…" Jade seemed on the verge of emotional tears.

Wigglytuff walked up to us and placed a hand on Jade's shoulder. "You three are the only ones who can go to the Hidden Land. If you don't go to the Hidden Land, then Chatot's sacrifice will be wasted…"

I turned around and took one last look at everyone.

"Go, you three. Save the world. Don't worry about us," Wigglytuff said with a smile.

We were silent for the longest time.

Then Jade took a deep breath. "Okay, you guys. We'll save the world. For you," she said.

Everyone smiled at us, and I felt like I was back in the guild, surrounded by all our fellow apprentices. Then I realized they weren't just fellow apprentices; they were friends.

"Tell Chatot we said hi," I said.

I took one last look at my friends. Then I walked forward into the cave ahead of us, Jade and Grovyle following close behind.

XxX

**Yeah. When I came to Brine Cave my first runthrough, Kabutops and the Omastar brothers were defeated in less than five turns.**** As Emile said, stupid anti-climaxes.**


	35. Chapter 34: Through the Sea of Time

**Ah, nostalgia. I love this part of the game...**

Chapter 34: Through the Sea of Time

As we were walking, Grovyle and I traded stories. He had taken all of the Time Gears from their locations, and luckily for him, none of the Time Gear guardians attacked him. Once he collected all the Time Gears, he found Wigglytuff, who had led him here.

"…And that's what happened," Grovyle concluded.

"Whoa. That sounds like quite the adventure," I said.

We were silent for the remainder of our short journey through the cave.

Five minutes after we left the guild behind, we saw a light up ahead. A few paces later, we emerged in an area that opened up to the sea, which was shimmering in the setting sun. I was rather surprised that so much time had passed while we were in Brine Cave.

"Whoa! What a beautiful ocean!" Jade said, rushing over to the opening. "Hey, you two! Check it out!"

I walked over to the opening, but Grovyle didn't. He was examining something on the wall.

"Hey, Grovyle," Jade said, walking over to Grovyle.

"Jade, what does your Relic Fragment look like?" Grovyle asked.

"Oh, well… Emile! Get your butt over here and give me my Relic Fragment!" Jade said.

I walked over to the wall that the two Grass types were looking at. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary old stone wall, but if I looked close enough, I could see a strange pattern etched into it.

I took out Jade's Relic Fragment, and sure enough, the pattern on the Relic Fragment matched the pattern on the wall.

"That's so weird! The pattern on your Relic Fragment matches the pattern on the wall!" I said.

"Just as I thought," Grovyle said. "This must be the gateway to the Hidden Land."

"Cool, but how do we—" Jade began. But then the pattern on the wall began to glow.

"Wah!" I cried, stumbling away from the pattern. Jade and Grovyle followed my example, and just in time, too, because as soon as they got away from the pattern, a beam of light shot from the wall and flew across the ocean outside.

A second later, a dark shape appeared on the horizon. The shape grew closer and closer with every passing second.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I have no idea…" Grovyle said.

I braced myself. The shadow could be an enemy, and that was the last thing I wanted to deal with at a time like this.

The shadow drew closer and closer, and as it got closer, I could begin to make out some of its features.

It had a long neck and a wide body that appeared to have a large shell with blunt "spikes" on it. I could see that it had blue skin and a gray shell as it drew closer. It kind of reminded me of a turtle, but there was no turtle that had that long of a neck.

The shadow grew clearer as it came closer to our little beach, and by the time it arrived at the opening, I relaxed. There was no way the Pokémon in front of me could be an enemy.

"Um… hello? Who are you?" Jade asked the Pokémon.

"I am Lapras," the Pokémon said "and I am your guide to the Hidden Land."

"Whoa. How did you know…?" I said.

Lapras smiled. "Hop on my back. I'll explain everything."

"Your… back seems kind of small," Jade observed.

"Don't worry. I can carry much more than you three," Lapras assured us.

"Um… okay," I said.

"Hey, you two, just a little bit of warning: we might not be able to return here once we leave," Grovyle warned. "Are you sure you're ready?"

"I'm ready," I said.

"We don't have time to dilly-dally around. Temporal Tower is collapsing!" Jade said.

"Okay, then. Let's go," Grovyle said.

In a matter of minutes we were sailing into the sea on Lapras's back. His back was actually pretty comfortable and stable; no matter how choppy the waters were, Lapras kept swimming.

He was a very fast swimmer, too. In a matter of minutes, Brine Cave was gone, leaving us sailing in an endless expanse of water. There was nothing more interesting than the water and the occasional Pelipper that would fly overhead.

After a few minutes of silence, I asked Lapras a question.

"So, you know how to get to the Hidden Land?"

"Yes. However, the Hidden Land is still pretty far away. We'll probably reach it by tomorrow morning," Lapras said.

There was another pause.

"How did you know that we needed to go to the Hidden Land?" Jade asked, breaking the silence.

"Wigglytuff told me. That's why he wasn't at your guild for a while," Lapras responded.

"Do you know Wigglytuff from before?" I asked.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I do. See, several years ago, Wigglytuff and his friend, Chatot, explored this cave. I saw them exploring in the cave and I didn't reveal myself… until Wigglytuff and Chatot got ambushed by those bandits.

"When I saw Chatot hurt, I just had to help… I helped Wigglytuff nurse him back to health, and when they were ready to leave, I made them promise not to tell anyone of the key to the Hidden Land. I couldn't be sure if they were kind explorers or greedy Pokémon who wanted to pillage the Hidden Land.

"Wigglytuff and Chatot agreed to it, and they've kept their word… that is, until this came up. Then they had to share the secret of the Hidden Land to everyone."

There was a long silence following Lapras's story. It touched my heart to hear about Wigglytuff and Chatot's care for each other. In a way, it kind of reminded me of me and Jade's partnership. We would do anything we could to help if either one of us got injured…

Judging by the thoughtful look on Jade's face, I could tell she felt the same way. Even though she yelled at me and called me stupid, she really cared for me. After all, every friendship has to have a disagreement somewhere.

By now it was night. The moon in the starry sky above us seemed bigger and brighter than ever. Jade yawned, and I could tell she was tired now.

"You sound a little tired," Lapras said.

"Yeah… But before I go to sleep, I have a question. Where is the Hidden Land anyway?" Jade asked. "I mean, I know it's hidden, but where is it hidden?"

"This may not make much sense to you," Lapras warned.

"Tell us anyway," I said.

"Okay. Will do… The Hidden Land is well hidden because Dialga didn't want any bad Pokémon to go to it and try to destroy it. So he hid it and Temporal Tower in between the gap of a split second," Lapras explained.

"Gap between a split second? How is that even possible?" I asked.

"Dialga is the entity that controls time. For him, it would be relatively easy to hide something in the gap between a split second," Lapras said.

"So that's why no one has found it before!" Jade said. "It seems impossible to go to something that hidden."

"Hard, but not impossible," Lapras said. "Dialga did leave one key to the Hidden Land: the Relic Fragment that you hold. It's the only way to reach the Hidden Land."

I yawned. "Whew! I'm tired!"

"Go ahead and get some rest. You'll definitely need it when you reach the Hidden Land," Lapras said.

"Okay. Goodnight," I said, laying down on his rough yet comfortable shell. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep right away.

XxX

"UP AND AT EM! IT'S MORNING!" The voice jarred me out of my sleep. For a second, I thought that I was back at the guild, getting woken up by Loudred. But then I looked around and didn't see Loudred, but Jade instead.

"Jade! Only Loudred can wake me up like that!" I said with a smile.

"Well then, I must be Loudred," Jade said. We all giggled.

I looked around. We were still riding on Lapras's back. There was nothing but ocean everywhere I looked. The only difference was the cloudless blue sky and the bright sun overhead as opposed to the moon and the stars.

"Hey, Lapras, are we at the Hidden Land yet?" I asked.

"Not yet, but we're getting close," Lapras said.

There was a long silence.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked.

"Yes. I'm just fine. I can swim for long periods of time without resting. But thank you for your concern," Lapras said, smiling serenely.

Someone sighed. I turned around and saw Grovyle staring off into the waves. He had been oddly silent throughout our journey to the Hidden Land. He seemed… sad. Very sad. I had the strange feeling that Grovyle wasn't telling me something.

"Hey, Grovyle, what's up? You seem… distracted," I said.

Grovyle looked up. "Oh… it's nothing. I was just… thinking. About the Hidden Land," he said. He put on an unconvincing smile, and before I could ask him questions, he turned around and looked off into the waves.

A few minutes later, I noticed a strange haze in the air up ahead. The ocean seemed to bend around it. A group of Pelipper that was flying by the haze swerved around suddenly, as if they knew to stay away from it.

"What _is _that?" I asked.

"That's the entrance to the Hidden Land," Lapras said. "You might wanna hang on tight."

"Why?" Jade asked.

"Things are about to get rough…" Lapras took a deep breath and began to swim faster. As we approached the strange haze, he picked up more speed. I felt like I was being pulled across the water on a jet ski.

"Wah!" Jade cried. "Why did you suddenly start going so fast?"

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" Lapras said, a smile on his face.

"What do you—" I began.

"Look down," Lapras said.

I wiggled my way to the edge of his shell and looked down at the ocean that we were swimming across… No. We weren't swimming.

Lapras was hovering a few inches above the water. As we picked up more speed, he gradually hovered higher until we were several feet off the water.

"Holy schist! We're flying!" Jade cried.

"No! We're not flying! We're crossing the Sea of Time!" Grovyle yelled.

We gained a little more height before Lapras entered the hazy area, and my vision went white. Soon after, I regained my sense of sight, and I couldn't believe what was below us.

A large island covered in trees hovered below us. Just above the island hovered a rocky sort of island with a tower perched upon it. Dark red clouds swirled above it. I could only assume it was Temporal Tower.

All I could say was, "Whoa."

Lapras "flew" down to a small peninsula with a Kangaskhan Rock. There he let us off his back.

It felt good to be able to stretch my legs. They were getting awfully tired of sitting cross-legged on the back of Lapras.

"That tower's Temporal Tower?" I asked, pointing at the tower atop the floating rock island.

"That is Temporal Tower," Lapras confirmed.

"I'd assume that we'd have to get there the hard way: going through the Hidden Land, which is most likely a dungeon, then somehow finding a way to levitate ourselves up to it. Am I right?" Jade asked Lapras.

"You can reach Temporal Tower easily by using the Rainbow Stoneship. The Rainbow Stoneship can be found at a place called the Old Ruins," Lapras said. "Now, I'm afraid that I cannot help you anymore. The rest is up to you."

"Don't worry, Lapras. We'll stop Temporal Tower from collapsing," Jade promised.

"Come see me when you are ready to return to the mainland," Lapras said, smiling.

"Okay," I said.

I walked over to the nearby Kangaskhan Rock and quickly rearranged my items. Once I was finished, I alerted the group.

"Okay, team. We're ready to move out," I said. Jade said, "Okay!" Grovyle nodded silently.

"Now, go, brave explorers. Stop this calamity. And… good luck," Lapras said.

"Thanks, Lapras," I said.

I took one final look at Lapras and couldn't help but think that I might not see him again. With that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, Jade, Grovyle and I set out into the Hidden Land.


	36. Chapter 35: Hidden Land

**I don't know about you, but I love the Hidden Land. It's got great music, a very fitting atmosphere, and eye-catching visuals. What's not to like? Oh right...**

**"It's a Monster House!"**

Chapter 35: Hidden Land

The Hidden Land reminded me of Treeshroud Forest: a very pretty place, with flowers, lush green vegetation, and a clear blue sky overhead. But there was a very mysterious air to the Hidden Land.

It was a very tough dungeon. Pokémon that I'd never seen before challenged us, and it would almost always take more than one hit to bring them down.

One of the first enemies we found was a Garchomp, a large purple dragon that could summon a sandstorm with a roar. It could also use the move Dig, which Grovyle knew as well. It took three hits to make the beast fall.

Later on, we found a dragon called Dragonite. It looked a little goofy to me, with a broad smile and tiny wings. That is, until I saw what it was capable of. One Oran Berry, three Force Palms, and an Energy Ball later, the Dragonite went down.

Many other Pokémon that didn't prove to be as troublesome also popped up. Puruglies would repeatedly scratch us, and Manectrics would summon lightning that would hit all of us. But one hit from Grovyle or I would make them regret messing with us.

Grovyle became increasingly distracted as we continued through the Hidden Land. He kept on glancing around, as if he expected Dusknoir to jump out at him. He didn't speak to us or even look at us. It was as if we didn't even exist to him.

Fifteen floors in, we found a waypoint with a Kangaskhan Rock in the center as usual. There was a slight slope in the ground, as if we were hiking up a gently rolling hill.

After recuperating at the waypoint for a minute, we set off into the Hidden Highland.

The Hidden Highland wasn't that different from the Hidden Land. The same kinds of Pokémon challenged us, and they didn't seem any stronger than before. The only difference was the color of the trees around us; they were now dark green instead of light green.

The air around us grew tighter and more mysterious as we progressed on. _Even though this dungeon is beautiful, it hides a dark secret, _I thought.

On the eighth floor, I noticed the trees beginning to thin. A few small rocks littered the ground, and there were very few Pokémon that were willing to attack us. It was almost as if they were staying away from something…

We finally found the stairs to the next floor. I walked up them with Jade and a very silent Grovyle following close behind.

At the top of the stairs was a huge temple that reminded me of the Sealed Ruin dungeon in the future. But these ruins were pretty intact. The entrance to the ruins was rather small, and I got the feeling that Grovyle would have a hard time getting through it.

"Whoa! Could these be the Old Ruins that Lapras told us about?" Jade said.

"I think they are," I said.

"Let's go check them out," Jade said, walking up to the entrance.

Inside the ruins were larger than life paintings of various Pokémon. The first picture depicted something that looked like a pink cat with blue eyes.

"Who's that Pokémon?" I asked.

"That's Mew. It's a legendary Pokémon that can supposedly learn every move." It was the first thing that Grovyle said to us since we entered the Hidden Land.

We continued to walk forward through the ruins. Soon we found a second painting depicting Groudon and another Pokémon that looked like a large blue killer whale.

"That's Groudon and Kyogre. Groudon and Kyogre fought a fierce battle may years ago until a Pokémon called Rayquaza calmed them down," Grovyle explained.

Later on we encountered a painting of two Pokémon: one of them looked like Primal Dialga, but it didn't have the orange features that Primal Dialga had. The other Pokémon was pink and stood upright.

"That's Dialga in his non-primal form. That pink one is called Palkia. While Dialga is the governor of time, Palkia is the governor of space," Grovyle said. Then he stopped. "I think we're at the exit now."

We walked outside the ruins and found a large pyramid with many steps leading up to the top. It was about as tall as a mountain and I figured hiking up it would take quite a while.

"I think the Rainbow Stoneship is on top of that," Grovyle said.

"Ugh, so we have to climb?" Jade sighed.

"You survived the climb up that plateau in the future. This should be easy," Grovyle said.

"Yeah…" I muttered.

Grovyle had a very odd definition of "easy". The word "easy" apparently meant "a very long and tiring climb up a huge staircase". That _definitely_ wasn't my definition of easy.

One tiring climb later we reached the top of the pyramid and found a stone tablet with mysterious writing on it. The stone floor below us was emblazoned with the pattern on Jade's Relic Fragment. In the middle of the floor was a small dent in the ground as if there were a chunk of the ground was missing.

"What's up with this weird pattern?" Jade asked, looking at the stone tablet.

"Those are Unown runes. Unown are Pokémon that are shaped like letters," Grovyle said.

"Can you read them?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just give me a second…" Grovyle scanned the tablet slowly and carefully. For a few minutes, he silently looked over the tablet.

"What does it say?" Jade asked impatiently.

"According to the tablet, we're standing on the Rainbow Stoneship right now," Grovyle said.

"We are? Cool! How do we activate it?" Jade said.

"Your Relic Fragment is the only way you can activate the Rainbow Stoneship," Grovyle said, looking at Jade.

Jade took her Relic Fragment out of our Explorer Bag and approached the hole in the center of the platform. But before she could fit it in the hole…

"Stop! You will go no further!" Unfortunately, I recognized the voice.

Six Sableye stormed up the staircase and trapped us in a tight circle. Dusknoir came clambering up the stairway, a broad grin on his face.

"Dusknoir," Grovyle growled.

"Yes. Me," Dusknoir said.

"How did you—"

"Get here? Master Dialga warped me directly to this wretched time period to stop you," Dusknoir said, still smiling broadly.

"D-Dusknoir… We'll fight you if we need to," Jade said slowly. I could tell she was desperately trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"Oh, Jade, you don't know if Grovyle is telling you the truth. He could be deceiving you," Dusknoir crooned, hovering up close to Jade.

"Urk…" Jade groaned.

"I thought so. Now, all three of you. Come with me." Dusknoir began to float down the stairs. His Sableye forced us forward, and we stumbled down the pyramid.

A minute of pushing later, we arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Dusknoir had set up a Dimensional Hole that he was probably going to try to force us in.

"Now, Sableye. Into the hole with them…" Dusknoir said.

"Wheh-heh-heh!" the Sableye snickered.

They pushed us toward the Dimensional Hole…

"Attack them," Grovyle whispered.

With a fierce yell, Grovyle lashed out at the Sableye. Jade and I quickly followed his example, and the Sableye scattered.

"No! You fools!" Dusknoir spat in outrage.

"Wheh? Heh?" the Sableye asked.

"Gah! Never mind! Just get them!" Dusknoir bellowed.

"Wheh-heh!" The Sableye closed in on us, and our battle began.


	37. Chapter 36: Battle Against Dusknoir

**FINALLY!**

**I can get revenge on that idiotic, double-crossing, traitor that is DUSKNOIR!**

**Or at least that's what I was thinking when I played this part of the game.**

Chapter 36: Battle Against Dusknoir

In an instant, a plan formed in my mind: take out the Sableye, then focus on Dusknoir. But we couldn't have Dusknoir bugging us while we tried to put the Sableye out of commission. Luckily I had just the thing to fix that.

I found a Sleep Seed in my Explorer Bag and threw it at Dusknoir. He caught it and ate it, and he was snoring in an instant.

I turned my attention to the battle behind me and found Jade was getting assaulted by the Sableye's Fury Swipes. Grovyle was nowhere to be found, but there was a small lump in the ground that indicated that Grovyle was in the middle of using Dig.

I advanced on the Sableye, and some of them turned their attention to me, giving Jade time to eat an Oran Berry out of my bag. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grovyle dig up out of the ground and hit one of the Sableye. The Sableye screeched and collapsed on the ground.

Dusknoir was still sleeping like a baby.

I used Force Palm and somehow paralyzed the Sableye I hit. Jade used Giga Drain, and another Sableye went down.

Grovyle used Leaf Blade and took out another Sableye. It groaned and staggered a few steps before fainting.

Dusknoir was still snoring through all the chaos.

Jade and I focused our efforts on one Sableye while Grovyle single-handedly mowed down Sableye after Sableye. Soon we only had one left, and it didn't stand a chance.

There was a groan, and we found that Dusknoir had finally woken up.

"Finally. I can get my revenge…" I thought about how many times Dusknoir had "helped" us, but in reality… he was nothing more than a servant of an insane Pokémon that wanted us dead.

I walked to Dusknoir and prepared to use Bite. Grovyle and Jade also gave Dusknoir wary looks.

Dusknoir punched me with shadow cloaked fists. I stumbled back and almost knocked Jade over, but I quickly regained my footing. I rushed up and used Bite on him, causing him to cringe in pain. Jade followed up with Energy Ball and Grovyle used Leaf Blade on the ghost. He was so surprised that he didn't attack us.

I continued to Bite him and Grovyle used his Grass type moves, but I noticed that Jade wasn't attacking. I looked over at Jade and found that she was charging up an attack of sorts.

"Jade's about to use SolarBeam," Grovyle whispered. "Get out of the way."

"Kame… Hame… SOLARBEAM!" Jade cried. She released the energy that she was charging up in a brilliant green laser that slammed into Dusknoir. The attack was too strong for him, and he collapsed.

"Nice," I said.

"When did you learn SolarBeam?" Grovyle asked.

"I knew it for quite a while, actually. I just held off on using it for a while because the enemies were too weak," Jade said, flipping the leaf on her head back.

Dusknoir groaned. "I… I… I…" He suddenly pushed himself up with his great hands. "I REFUSE TO LOSE!" The "mouth" on his stomach opened up, and a strange shadowy ball began to gather in it. It steadily grew larger as we watched in awe.

"What's he…" I said.

"It looks like he's about to charge up an attack…" Grovyle said. "If he hits us with that, we'll be finished for sure…" He sounded defeated, and I was reminded of the time in the future when we were surrounded by the Sableye, Dusknoir, and Primal Dialga. Grovyle just sounded so… defeated. He had abandoned all hope. But then Jade came up with a plan…

_That's what we need. A plan, _I thought. _But what can we do?_

I began to think. _Hmm… It seems as if his mouth thing is charging up his attack… That's it! We have to disable his mouth! But how…?_

"Grovyle! Jade! When he releases his attack, deflect it back at him," I said in a whisper.

"What? What do you—" Jade asked.

"Use an attack on it!" I said.

"Um—" Jade began.

"We have to try it! Or else we're done for!" I said urgently.

"You're finished!" Dusknoir roared. He released the energy ball. It came hurtling toward us…

"NOW!" I cried.

Jade, Grovyle and I raced forward to take the incoming attack. We rammed into the energy ball and somehow managed to deflect it back at Dusknoir.

There was a blinding flash of light, and when the light cleared, Dusknoir was lying on the ground, gasping. His "mouth" on his belly was wide open and crackling with black energy.

"Ugh… Ugggh…" he groaned.

The Sableye around us seemed to be recovering from our battle. They stood up and looked around at each other as if they had forgotten why they were here.

"Wheh? Heh?" they said. Then their eyes fell on Dusknoir. "D-Dusknoir!"

"Ugh…" Dusknoir groaned.

"Wheh! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!" the Sableye cried. The Darkness Pokémon raced up to the Dimensional Hole and jumped into it. Now only Dusknoir, Grovyle, Jade and I were left…

"Shall I activate the Rainbow Stoneship?" Jade asked.

"Sure. We'll just be here, cleaning up the garbage," I said, looking at Dusknoir.

"Okay." Jade began the long climb up the stone pyramid.

Dusknoir began to groan some more. "Urk… You… Is this really what you want, Grovyle?"

Grovyle was silent.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You really want to stop the planet's paralysis?" Dusknoir asked.

"Yeah. Sure. And we're gonna do it too. We're not gonna let some half-baked villain like you stop us," I said coolly.

"Do you even know what happens if you change the future?" Dusknoir asked.

"Um…"

"If you were to change the future, everyone living in the future would… disappear," Dusknoir said. "Oh, not just me! Grovyle would disappear too! And so would you, Emile!"

_What?! If we stop the planet's paralysis, then everyone in the future would disappear?! _I thought. _If Dusknoir's telling the truth…No. It can't be. He's lying. He's just trying to discourage us from saving the world. I won't disappear._

"Ooh, someone looks a little doubtful! Grovyle, tell this Riolu: are we going to disappear if you rewrite history?" Dusknoir said, a smile on his face.

_Please be lying. Please be lying… _I prayed.

"Yes. If we were to change the future, we would disappear."

_What the—He's not lying?! We'll really disappear if we save the world?! _As soon as the words left Grovyle's mouth, my whole body went numb. I guess I should've been angry at Grovyle for not telling me earlier, but all I could feel was sadness.

"Yes. We will disappear from time if we change the future," Grovyle said slowly. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, but if I did tell you, would you go on this journey?"

"N-no…" I said numbly.

I just couldn't believe that I would disappear if we were to change the future. I guess it makes sense; if the future disappeared, anyone from the future would disappear with it, but that didn't make me feel even better.

"Hey, Emile… You don't remember this, but as a human, you knew what would happen once we changed the future. You knew we would disappear. Back then, you had nothing to lose. But now, you've made a new friend. Jade. She'll be heartbroken if you disappear," Grovyle said.

Jade. I had been so busy worrying about myself that I had forgotten to think about Jade's feelings. She had grown so attached to me. If she found out that I was going to disappear, she'd be crushed.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but just think about our predicament.

_Well, we've gotten this far. I guess it's too late to go back even if I wanted to… We'll have to keep moving._

"No. We've gotten this far. I'm not gonna give in," I said bravely.

Grovyle smiled. "I'm glad that you still have your resolve."

The top of the pyramid suddenly began to glow with a bright blue light. Jade cried, "Yes! I got the Stoneship working!"

"Sweet!" I said. I turned to the pyramid, failing to notice that Dusknoir was now struggling up…

"No! I will not let you go up there!" Dusknoir charged out at me, his hand curled into a large fist. Just before Dusknoir could hit me, Grovyle raced out in front of me and took the attack for me. The punch was too much for him to take, and he slumped down to the ground, defeated.

"Grovyle!" I cried.

Dusknoir chuckled. "Too bad, Emile! He's down for the count!"

Turns out Dusknoir was wrong. Grovyle groaned and unsteadily got to his feet.

"Urk…" Grovyle caught my eye and shook his head. Before I could figure out why, he charged at Dusknoir.

Instead of attacking the ghost, Grovyle pinned Dusknoir's arms to his side and began to push him back… back toward the Dimensional Hole that had been swirling throughout our battle.

"Grovyle?! What—" I cried.

"I'm—no, _we're _going back to the future!" Grovyle said.

"G-Grovyle! No! What are you _thinking_?!" I asked.

Before Grovyle could answer, Jade appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Okay, team! The Rainbow Stoneship is ready for—what the?! Grovyle?! What are you doing?!"

"We're going back to the future!" Grovyle said.

"Guh… Unhand me, Grovyle!" Dusknoir bellowed. He tried to worm his way out of Grovyle's grasp, but Grovyle just squeezed him tighter. There was no escape for him now…

"Quit your struggling, you oaf!" Grovyle said harshly.

"Grovyle! Why are you going back? We need you!" Jade said, pausing to wipe away a tear from her face.

"You two are great explorers! You don't need me!" Grovyle said. He reached into his small leather satchel and tossed out five green-blue gears; Time Gears. "The rest is up to you now!"

"Grovyle…" Jade sobbed. "Please… Don't go…"

"Emile… Jade… I have complete confidence in you two! You two are the greatest of combinations!" Grovyle said.

Dusknoir and Grovyle were almost at the Dimensional Hole…

"Jade, don't worry about me. Just worry about yourself and Emile. And Emile—" Grovyle focused his large yellow eyes on me. "Though the parting hurts… the rest is in your hands!"

"Grovyle! Please don't!" I yelled.

Grovyle turned to the struggling Dusknoir. "Sorry for the wait, pal! Here we go!" He shoved Dusknoir into the hole, and with one last look at us, he too jumped into it.

"No!" Jade cried. She ran toward the Dimensional Hole, but I held her back. The hole began to glow and shrink… and then it was gone.

"Nooo! Grovyle!" Jade sobbed. "G-Grovyle… I… why? I…" Jade collapsed into a fit of sobbing.

_If this is how she reacts when Grovyle leaves, then I'd hate to see her reaction when she finds out about me…_

"Jade… don't worry. Grovyle will be fine," I said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Jade sniffed. "E… Emile… I…" She continued to cry, her body shaking with sobs.

"Jade, we have to keep going. Grovyle wouldn't want you to just give up here," I said.

Jade looked up at me. "You're right…" She took a moment and brushed her tears away. "I'll go get the Time Gears."

I watched as Jade unsteadily got up and began collecting the green Time Gears that Grovyle left. She picked each one up and looked fondly at it as if she were remembering all our adventures with Grovyle. All the time she cried.

"Grovyle was right when he said that the parting hurt… I knew it would be sad to see him leave, but I didn't know it would be this sad…"

_"__Though the parting hurts…" Wait! He wasn't talking about him and us. He was talking about me and Jade… And it's true. It will hurt for Jade… _

"Jade… Grovyle wouldn't want you to be sad. He would want you to be brave. He would want you to go forth and stop the planet's paralysis," I said.

Jade took a deep breath and pocketed the last Time Gear. "You're right, of course." There was a strange noise from the top of the pyramid. The blue light at the top grew brighter. "Oh! I think the Rainbow Stoneship is gonna lift off soon! Let's go!"

Jade raced up the pyramid.

I took one last look at the spot where the Dimensional Hole was. _We will save the world. For you, Grovyle. Even if we disappear, we will save the world._

I turned back to the pyramid and followed Jade up it.

XxX

**MAH FEELZ T_T And the fact that Emile has to disappear isn't that much better... TT_TT**


	38. Chapter 37: Temporal Tower

**We're coming up on the end... So exciting!**

Chapter 37: Temporal Tower

Once we got to the top of the pyramid, we saw the pattern on the floor glowing with a luminous light. In the middle of it was Jade's Relic Fragment, embedded in the ground.

"I had to give up my personal treasure to activate this thing. I'm kinda sad, but if it's to save the world…" Jade said grouchily.

The pattern on the ground shuddered and rose a few inches off the ground.

"Wah! It's about to lift off! Hurry! Let's get on it!" Jade hopped on the Stoneship. I followed her example just in time. The Stoneship lurched forward, and with a burst of rainbow colored light we were cruising up to Temporal Tower.

A tail of rainbow colored light shimmered behind the Stoneship as it was propelled forward. It was a very pretty sight that made me hopeful that we could defeat Primal Dialga and restore peace to the world. But then I remembered what would happen if we did that.

_We really will disappear then… Not just me, but Grovyle and Celebi too… _I even felt sorry for Dusknoir a little bit. No one deserves to disappear. No one, not even Dusknoir, as rotten as he was, deserves that fate.

Jade tried to boost out spirits by whistling a cheery sounding tune, but it was obvious that we were in no mood to smile. Soon we would face our final challenge: Temporal Tower. It would probably be very difficult, and that was nothing to be happy about.

Temporal Tower slowly inched closer as the Rainbow Stoneship whirred through the sky. As the Stoneship got closer to the large tower, our speed dropped.

Soon we were right by Temporal Tower. The Rainbow Stoneship stopped by a long rocky path that lead up to the tower. We hopped off the Rainbow Stoneship and began our long walk up to Temporal Tower.

The walk probably too about five minutes, but it seemed like it took five hours. I just had too much on my mind.

Soon we reached the base of the tower. I stared up at it and was struck by how tall it was. It looked like it would take eternity to get up to the top where Primal Dialga presumably resided.

"This thing is huge," Jade said, craning her neck to look up. "It also looks kind of sturdy. You've gotta wonder how this thing could collapse."

"Yeah…" I agreed.

"Whatever. We need to get—" Jade was cut off by a small tremor in the ground. Temporal Tower swayed slightly, and a small rock fell into the abyss below us.

"Wah! A tremor!" Jade cried. Once the tremor stopped, Jade gasped. "Holy… Grovyle did warn that Temporal Tower was collapsing now… Could it be collapsing as we speak?"

"Maybe…" I said.

Jade sighed. "Ugh… That's discouraging… But we need to do this. For Grovyle… For Celebi… For everyone." She looked up at the cloudy sky and said, "Don't worry, Grovyle! We'll reverse the collapsing of Temporal Tower! We'll build a bright future for you to live in!"

_Oh, Jade. If only you knew… We would be building a bright future, but Grovyle won't be able to live in it. He'll disappear just like I will._

"Yeah. We will," I said halfheartedly.

"Why don't you prepare for our hike? Once you're ready, let me know," Jade said.

"Okay." I walked over to the Kangaskhan Rock and switched out my items, and I couldn't help thinking about how many times I had gone up to a Kangaskhan Rock and switched my items out. Heck, I remembered the first time that I had encountered a Kangaskhan Rock at Craggy Coast. It seemed like such a long time ago…

Finally we were ready for our long climb up Temporal Tower.

"Are you ready, Emile?" Jade asked.

_No, _my brain said.

"Yes," my mouth said.

"Good. Now let's go save time."

And together we walked into our final adventure.

Temporal Tower was a very challenging dungeon. Many Pokémon that I'd never seen before challenged us. It was pretty difficult to keep up with all of them.

One of the first enemies I ran into was a Porygon, a Normal type Pokémon that actually survived a super effective Force Palm. It weakly rammed into me, but I could tell it was pretty much finished. I took it out with another Force Palm, and we continued on our way.

Later on we encountered a Bronzor, which looked like a pure Steel type. But Jade then informed me that it was in fact part Psychic type. I had a little trouble taking it out, but I did in the end, and we continued.

Solrocks and Lunatones also jumped out at us. They were like Bronzor: they looked like pure Rock types, but they were in fact part Psychic type as well. Jade would make quick work of them.

All the while I thought about what would happen when we got to the top. Surely we would be challenged by Primal Dialga. But when we beat him and put the Time Gears in their proper places… after that I would disappear.

_Will I disappear quick and painlessly? Or will it hurt while I'm disappearing? It will surely hurt Jade… Not physically, though… But emotionally._

I was so busy thinking about my inevitable fate that I didn't notice the Kangaskhan Rock right in front of me. I walked right into it. Jade laughed, and in spite of my mixed emotions I laughed too.

"You're so stupid! Not noticing a big gray statue in front of you!" Jade giggled.

"Gee, thanks," I said with a playful smile.

But our lighthearted mood was cut short by a large tremor in the ground. Dust trickled down from the ceiling above us, and I had to grab onto the Kangaskhan Rock to keep my balance.

"Wah! Another tremor!" Jade cried. She lost her footing and tumbled headfirst into the wall.

The tremor settled down. Jade regained her footing and rubbed her head.

"Whew! That was even bigger than the tremor at the bottom of the tower!"

"Temporal Tower is collapsing even faster now… We need to hurry!" I said.

"Okay!" Jade said.

We took a brief moment to rest in the waypoint. After a few minutes of resting, we were ready to move on.

Temporal Spire was a much tougher place than Temporal Tower. Pokémon such as Bronzong and Porygon2 appeared and tried to ruin our day. The Porygon2s were no problem. A few hits with Force Palm or Brick Break would take them out. The Bronzongs were more difficult; like their pre-evolution, Bronzor, they were Steel and Psychic types. It took quite a bit of time to get rid of them.

On the sixth floor, we found a huge dragon that I recognized as a Salamence. Jade had to use Giga Drain twice and I had to use Brick Break twice to take it out. Of course it made me waste one Reviver Seed, leaving us with only one more for our fight with Dialga…

Small tremors were frequent. The whole tower would shake, and Jade and I would be temporarily thrown off balance. Unfortunately, the other Pokémon in the tower were not affected by the tremors. Pretty much all of them flew or hovered, so they wouldn't be thrown off balance when a tremor popped up.

As we made our way up Temporal Spire, I grew increasingly nervous. What if we failed? Would Temporal Tower collapse? Would Primal Dialga go insane and kill us? And how would my disappearance be played out…?

On the tenth floor, we heard strange inhuman groans and growls echoing off the walls. They weren't the sounds of anything that we recognized. As we got closer to the stairs, the growls got louder.

"Oh my Arceus… Could that be… Dialga?" Jade whispered.

"I think it is…" I said.

Jade took a deep breath. "Are you ready to fight like you've never fought before?" she asked.

"Honestly, no, but… we have to do it. For everyone…" I said.

"So let's go," Jade said.

For a brief moment, we locked eyes, and I suspected that she somehow knew I was hiding something from her. But after a minute she shook her head and wordlessly walked up the stairs.

I braced myself and followed Jade up the stairs. Our final battle awaited us.

XxX

**The grand finale is coming up... And just 'cause I'm evil I'm gonna make you wait. Mwahaha.**


	39. Chapter 38: Dialga's Fight to the Finish

**GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IT'S DIALGA!**

**Also, epic final battle music is epic.**

Chapter 38: Dialga's Fight to the Finish!

We reached the top of the stairs and were shocked to see how far up we were. It looked as if the tower was a mile high. The Hidden Land was tiny from up here.

The sky was full of ominous red clouds swirling around the top. There was a hole in the center of the clouds that made the sky look like a red hurricane. Lightning crackled around the cloud.

Many broken pillars surrounded us. Near the edge of the tower, a bluish pedestal with five individual slots stood tall.

"Man! This is a weird place," Jade said.

"Yeah, no kidding. So where are we supposed to—" I began.

But then a large bolt of lightning appeared from the red clouds and struck a pillar. Another tremor shook the ground. I stumbled and almost fell into the abyss below us. Jade was trying awfully hard to steady herself.

Finally the tremor settled. Jade and I regained our balance.

"Wah! What was that all about?" Jade cried indignantly.

"I don't—hey! That pedestal back there… Don't you think that those indents in it look like… gears?" I asked, looking at the blue pedestal.

Jade squinted at it. "Yeah… It kind of does… Emile! Get the Time Gears out and put them in that pedestal! It'll reverse the collapse of Temporal Tower!"

"I'm on it!" I dug around in my bag and found all five Time Gears, safe and sound.

_Surely it's not this easy…_

As if on cue, another bolt of lightning hit the tower and made my vision go white. When my vision cleared, I saw my ultimate nightmare standing before us.

Primal Dialga looked even scarier up close. Most of his body was a deep shade of blue. He had orange "stripes" down his legs and tail. His blood red eyes had a manic glint in them. He had a large red gem on his chest.

"Holy Arceus! Primal Dialga!" Jade cried.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dialga roared.

Jade squeaked and began to tremble.

"It's okay," I whispered.

"WHO DARES COME TO DESTROY TEMPORAL TOWER?!" Dialga demanded.

"D-destroy?" Jade repeated.

"We're not here to destroy Temporal Tower! We want to save it!" I yelled up to the beast.

"DO NOT TELL ME LIES! I KNOW YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WANTS TO DEFACE THIS SACRED PLACE!" Dialga said.

"But we're telling the truth!" Jade cried.

"Jade, Primal Dialga doesn't listen to reason. There's no use trying to talk to him," I said.

"ENOUGH TALKING! YOU WANT TO DESTROY THIS TOWER! I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT! AND SO YOU MUST BE PUNISHED! GROOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dialga roared. He began to walk up to us…

"Here he comes, Jade!" I warned.

"Keep your guard up, Emile!" Jade said.

And our final battle began.

I took a moment to calm myself. An insane time-controlling deity just challenged us to a fight to the finish. Surely _you'd _be nervous too. Once I was as prepared as I could get, I approached Primal Dialga.

I clenched my hands into a fist and used Brick Break on him. Dialga howled in pain. Jade followed up with Giga Drain, which wasn't as effective, but effective nonetheless.

Dialga roared and clawed at Jade with its massive claws. Jade screamed in pain and stumbled back, hurt, but not defeated.

I hit him with Force Palm, and Jade hit him with Energy Ball. Dialga roared and summoned several rocks out of thin air. The rocks surged forward like they were in an army and hit me. It didn't hurt too much, but it still did hurt.

I hit him with Force Palm once again, and Jade attacked with Giga Drain. I braced myself for another attack from Dialga, but it never came.

Jade let out a whoop. "Yes! I think your Force Palm paralyzed him! Now he can't attack!"

"GRRR… GROOOO…" Dialga roared, trying to move. But he was completely petrified.

"Do you know what that means, Emile?" Jade asked. I nodded.

"That means… IT'S GO TIME!" I leered at Dialga, and I knew we had this battle in the bag.

Jade and I mercilessly beat up on Primal Dialga for the next several turns. He stayed paralyzed throughout the entire thing, so he was essentially a sitting duck. I loved it.

Dialga slowly began to weaken. Soon he was panting and covered in sweat, but still paralyzed.

"It's quite lucky that he's paralyzed," Jade said.

"Yeah… I'm guessing he's almost finished," I said.

"How about we finish him… together?" Jade suggested with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan," I said. I smiled.

_One last attack… That's all we need…_

I clenched my fists and felt Focus Punch welling up inside me. Jade began charging up SolarBeam. Dialga whimpered in terror. It's funny how two tiny Pokémon can make you so scared.

"Now… let's finish this," I said once I was ready to launch Focus Punch.

"Okay!" Jade said.

_Let's go!_  
"FOCUS PUNCH!"

"SOLABEAM!"

Jade released a green beam of light that soared to Dialga. I charged at the beast, and with a fierce yell, I punched Dialga just as Jade's SolarBeam hit him. Dialga's knees buckled, and with one final "GROOOO…" he collapsed on the ground.

I was pretty much in shock. Jade and I had defeated a creature several times our size with our own hands. I couldn't believe that we had done it. I was thinking that something would go wrong in this battle. But the battle was perfect. Almost too perfect.

"Yes! _We defeated Primal Dialga!_" Jade cried. She gave me a high five. "Great job, Emile!"

"You too," I said wearily.

"GRR… GROOO!" Dialga groaned and tried to sit up, an intense fire in his eyes.

I tossed Jade my Explorer Bag. "Jade. Go to that pedestal and put the Time Gears in the indents," I said urgently.

"But—" Jade protested.

"Don't worry about me! Just do it!" I said.

Jade was still doubtful, but she ran forward to the pedestal, the five Time Gears in her hand.

_Click. _Jade fit one Time Gear into an indent. Then another. And another.

Dialga was just sitting up when Jade inserted the final Time Gear. Temporal Tower began to shake like crazy, and a white light expanded from the pedestal.

The last thing that I thought before blacking out was… _I hope I bought Jade enough time…_

XxX

**I really trolled you, didn't I?**

**I give you all this build-up, all this suspense... and then Emile's Force Palm paralyzes Dialga and makes the rest of the fight a breeze. That's an anti-climax if I've ever seen one.**


	40. Chapter 39: Don't Ever Forget

**NOOOOOOOOOO! IT'S THE SAD PART! T_T**

**WARNING: Hero x Partner and _incredibly_ cheesy romance ahead. Continue at your own risk...**

Chapter 39: Don't Ever Forget...

When the light vanished, I found that I was lying on the ground at the top of Temporal Tower. Jade was lying a few feet away from me. As far as I could tell, we were both fine.

"Ugh…" I groaned as I sat up. "Are we… Did we win?"

"Um…" Jade sat up as well. "Yeah… We won."

I got to my feet, walked over to Jade, and embraced her in a hug. "Great job, Jade."

"Aw… Thanks. You did most of the work, you know," Jade whispered.

I peeled away from Jade and looked around. The blue pedestal had the five green Time Gears embedded in it. It was the only thing that appeared to be unchanged.

All the pillars had collapsed. There were many holes in the ground. The red clouds were gone. I was thinking about how different the place was before we started the battle when I noticed Dialga.

He looked different, to say the least. His body was a much lighter shade of blue. The "stripes" on his body were icy blue instead of orange. The gem on his chest was blue instead of red. His eyes were still red, but the manic glint in them was gone.

"Wah! Dialga!" Jade yelped, stumbling back.

"RELAX. I WILL NOT HURT YOU. I HAVE REGAINED MY REASON, THANKS TO YOU," Dialga said.

"Y-you won't?" Jade asked.

"I WON'T," Dialga promised.

"Wait… If you're not primal anymore… Does that mean that we prevented the planet's paralysis?" I asked.

"ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU," Dialga said. He looked up at the sky and roared, "GROOOOOO!"

A rainbow colored light expanded from Dialga's gem…

And then we weren't there anymore. We were at Treeshroud Forest, but it looked different. The sky was a brilliant blue. The sun blazed overhead. A gentle wind blew through the forest, making the leaves on the trees rustle.

"Whoa! That's Treeshroud Forest!" Jade said.

"How are you showing us this, Dialga?" I asked.

"I HAVE THE POWER OF TELEPATHY. I CAN SHOW YOU ANY PLACE THAT I WANT NOW," Dialga said.

"That's so cool!" I said.

The scene shifted, and the next thing I knew, we were looking at Treasure Town. All the Pokémon there were going about their business as usual. No one was worried. No one was upset. Everyone was happy and carefree.

"That's Treasure Town!" Jade exclaimed.

"Everyone looks so happy!" I said.

"Well, we did save the world, right? They have a reason to be happy," Jade said.

The scene shifted one last time, and we were looking at a heavily damaged Temporal Tower. Most of the walls had been torn away. Parts of it were crumbling. But it was still standing.

"TEMPORAL TOWER HAS TAKEN QUITE A BEATING, HOWEVER, IT IS STILL STANDING," Dialga said. "IT'S STANDING BECAUSE OF YOUR BRAVERY."

"Um… thanks?" Jade said.

"BE THANKFUL. IF THIS TOWER COLLAPSED, THE PLANET WOULD BECOME PARALYZED. BUT YOU PREVENTED THAT FROM HAPPENING," Dialga said.

Temporal Tower vanished, and we were brought back to the present time.

"I MUST THANK YOU. YOU'VE SAVED THE WORLD FROM CERTAIN CALAMITY. FOR THAT, I AM IN YOUR DEBT," Dialga said.

"But we wouldn't have gotten this far without the help of our friend, Grovyle," I said.

"Ooh! That reminds me… Dialga, do you know if Grovyle is okay? The last time we saw him, he jumped into a Dimensional Hole and went to the future…" Jade said.

"GROVYLE, YOU SAY?" Dialga tilted his head, as if listening. After a minute of silence, he shook his head sadly. "NO. I AM SORRY, BUT I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THE WELL BEING OF YOUR FRIEND."

_Maybe he's disappeared already… That reminds me… when will I disappear? Now? Tomorrow?_

"Oh… But I'm sure he's okay. I'm sure of it," Jade said.

"Okay. This has all been very nice and everything, but we need a way to get back to the guild. Dialga, can you teleport us back to Wigglytuff's Guild?" I interrupted.

"I CANNOT TELEPORT YOU DIRECTLY TO THIS GUILD THAT YOU SPEAK OF. HOWEVER, I CAN TELEPORT YOU TO THE BASE OF THE TOWER," Dialga said.

"Okay! That'll work. Thanks, Dialga!" Jade said cheerfully.

"YOU'RE VERY WELCOME." It crossed my mind that Dialga knew about my disappearance and didn't want it happen in front of the whole guild.

Dialga looked up to the sky and roared, "GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The next thing I knew, we were both at the base of Temporal Tower.

"Hooray, Emile! We did it! I'm so happy!" Jade squealed. She skipped ahead and beckoned for me to follow.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I said. I took a step forward and instantly began to feel very… strange. I felt weighed down, as if I were carrying a ton of bricks. I tried to run after Jade, but I couldn't. I found it hard to walk, much less run.

_Ugh… What's up with my body? Why do I feel so… weighed down? Wait… Could this be… the beginning of my disappearance? _I thought.

I moseyed on after Jade for a while. She kept skipping around and telling me that I was very slow, which I found rather annoying.

"C'mon, Emile! Quit your moseying! I wanna get back to the guild as soon as possible!" Jade yelled.

"Ugh… I'm coming…" I moaned. "Just give me a second…"

"Why are you suddenly so slow? You were just fine while we were hiking up Temporal Tower," Jade said. Before I got the chance to answer, a small tremor shook the ground.

It wasn't all that surprising, as we had encountered many tremors during our climb up Temporal Tower. But it still did manage to make Jade scream.

"Wah! Another tremor!" Jade cried.

The tremor settled down. Jade sighed in relief.

"Whew. I guess things are still settling down…" She continued to skip ahead.

By now it almost hurt to walk. I had to concentrate all my energy to put one foot in front of the other. I almost fell down a couple of times, but if I fell down, I probably wouldn't be able to get back up.

Soon the Rainbow Stoneship came into view. It was still waiting for us, held aloft by a strange rainbow colored light.

_C'mon… I have to make it… Have to get to the Rainbow Stoneship… Have to… make it…_

And then it happened.

A small golden light floated up from my body. It hovered in front of my face for a second, then faded away. Another light floated up and did the same thing.

_Oh… This is it… My time with Jade… ends now._

Jade was about to get on the Rainbow Stoneship when she noticed the lights coming from my body. "Hey, Emile… what's happening to you?" she asked as she walked up to me.

"Jade… I'm sorry for not telling you earlier… But now… I have to say goodbye," I said.

"What the?! Say goodbye?! Are you leaving me or something?!" Jade cried.

I took a deep breath. "Dusknoir told us… We come from a future that no longer exists. If it were to disappear, then all Pokémon from the future… will disappear too. I'm so sorry for not telling you earlier," I said.

I expected Jade to get angry at me for not telling me earlier, but Jade wasn't angry at all. She was crestfallen, just as Grovyle expected. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"What?! Disappear?" Jade cried.

"Yes. I'm so sorry…"

Jade was really crying now. "E-Emile… I don't understand… I…"

The lights coming from my body grew larger and brighter. My fingers began to feel numb.

"What will I do without you? You've helped me all this way… You fought for me… You helped me when I feel down… You stayed strong… for me… I don't know what I'll do if you disappear…" Jade moaned.

"But I do." I took my Explorer Bag off of my shoulder and untied my Green Bow with my numb fingers. I set them down before Jade. "You'll go to the Rainbow Stoneship… Get out of the Hidden Land… Go back to the guild… and train. You'll train with Sparky and Ani-Chan and everyone else at the guild. You'll become the greatest explorer this planet has ever seen. That's what you'll do."

"B-but… It won't be the same without you…"

"Jade… You have to live for yourself now. Consider me… a teacher. I've helped you all this way… and now you have to live for yourself. Go back home… Tell everyone what happened… Make sure none of this ever happens again. Promise me?" I said.

"I… I…"

The lights were getting much brighter now. The numb feeling began to spread to my limbs.

"I promise."

"Thank you, Jade. I'm so glad that I met you. I'm glad that my time in the Pokémon world was with you. I'm so glad… I got to know you…" I said.

"Wait! No! Don't go! Before you go… I have to tell you something," Jade said, looking rather guilty. "I was gonna tell you once we got back to the guild, but…"

"Tell me. It's okay," I said.

"I… I've had a…" Jade raced forward and grabbed me in a hug. "I… I kind of… l… l..." Jade broke off and continued to sob.

"You can tell me. It's okay," I whispered, gently stroking Jade's cheek.

"I… kind of… l… lo…" Jade stammered.

Then I knew it. I knew what she wanted to say before the words left her mouth.

"I really love you, Emile. I know this is cheesy and all, but… I… I really do… Ever since we first met…" Jade swallowed hard and wiped her eyes.

My entire body was numb now. The lights were brighter than ever now.

"D… do you feel the same way about me?" Jade whispered, hugging me tighter.

I didn't even need to think about it. Quite honestly, there were some times where I'd thought that Jade was more than just a friend. "I… Yeah. I do…"

I smiled. Jade tried awfully hard to smile back, even though it was unspeakably hard for her.

"Don't forget about me, Jade. Promise me?" I said, smiling serenely.

"I… I wouldn't dream of it. I'll always remember you, Emile…" Jade choked.

The lights were about to overtake me now. My whole body was numb, and I could feel myself slowly losing consciousness.

"Goodbye, Jade…" I said softly. Then my vision turned yellow, then white, then black.

And then I was gone.

XxX

**MAH FEEEEEEEEEEEELZ!**

**And I can't write romance to save my life. -_- Heck, even Jade says it's cheesy. But ****hopefully the next chapter will be better. **


	41. Chapter 40: Memories Returned

**Well, the finale is upon us. It's been a good story, but at last it's time to hang it up. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this story, and thank you for all your support.**

**Well, I hope that you liked this story, and... well... until next time... happy writing.**

Chapter 40: Memories Returned

Darkness.

That's all that I see. That's all I'll ever see.

That's all that I've seen for quite a while now. I don't know how long. Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Centuries?

I can't do anything. I can't move. I can't speak.

I'm not alive or dead. I simply do not exist.

It's a terrible fate, I know. It's like being cursed to float around in an endless void for all eternity. It's horrible, and with every second that passes you wish that you could go back to your home. To your previous life. To all your friends…

But I can't. I'm stuck here forever. Forever…

After an eternity in this terrible darkness, I heard a voice. A very faint voice, but a voice nonetheless.

"WHEN YOU DISAPPEARED, I FELT YOUR PARTNER'S SORROW. SHE SINCERELY MISSES YOU." I haven't heard that voice in forever, but I still recognized it. It was Dialga.

_Yeah. I bet she misses me more with every passing day… _I thought. _And I miss her too… I want to go back…_

"YES. THOUGH YOU DO NOT KNOW IT, THE WORLD NEEDS BOTH OF YOU. YOU MUST GO BACK," Dialga mused.

_Go back?! I wish, but…_

"YOU CAN GO BACK…" Dialga said.

_I… I can?! How?_

"I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT. YOU WILL BE REUNITED WITH YOUR PARTNER SOON… NOW… I GIVE YOU… THE FUTURE! GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I felt a strange tingling in the pit of my stomach, as if I were dropping from an airplane. My vision turned from black to yellow, and a vision opened up in front of me.

Jade was on the beach, towering over a blue lump that was me.

_"__WAKE UP, YOU STUPID RIOLU!"_

_ "__Wha-who—?"_

_"__Oh good. The dead rises."_

The vision changed, and I saw Jade offering to "make a contract" and form an exploration team. That seemed like it happened so long ago…

The vision changed again, and Jade and I were facing Drowzee at the top of Mt. Bristle.

_ "__This is your last chance, Drowzee. Release Azurill or we will fight you. I'm pretty sure Razor Leaf will beat you up pretty badly."_

_ "__Give up? I'm a wanted criminal with a bounty on my head! I don't give up!"_

_ "__Okay, then. I suppose we'll have to fight you. Be warned: _we_don't give up, either,"_

_ "__It's on!"_

Then we were at Waterfall Cave, preparing to jump in to the thundering waterfall.

_ "__Oof… I'm getting a little nervous…" _

_ "__Look, it's gonna be okay. I'll be with you. It's fine." _

_ "__Yeah, you're right." _

Then we were at Fogbound Lake, facing the Groudon illusion.

_ "__Oh no…"_

_ "__We have to stay strong. We can't chicken out now."_

_ "__You're right. We have to stay strong…" _

I found myself unexpectedly tearing up as my memories flashed by. They were more than just memories, though. They were what I was made of. Without them, I was nobody. All the good memories… All the bad memories… All the times that Jade felt scared and I reassured her…

I felt something tickle my cheek, and I realized that I was crying for the first time since the time travel accident. I had held back tears many times, but this was the first time I really let them out. All that time I'd stayed strong for Jade… I'd never really gotten a chance to be alone… To let my emotions out…

My last moments in the Pokémon world flashed by. I saw myself slowly trudging to the Rainbow Stoneship. I saw the golden lights issuing from my body. I saw Jade declaring her love for me. I saw the golden lights engulf me…

The last thing I saw was Jade's sad face. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Tears made her cheeks damp. I could hear her say her final words to me…

_ "__Don't forget about me, Jade. Promise me?"_

_ "__I… I wouldn't dream of it. I'll always remember you, Emile…"_

Then I felt my feet hit soft sand.

And I was back. Back in the Pokémon world.

I was on the beach where I had first woken up with no memory. But now I had my memories. All my memories of Jade…

_Jade!_

Jade was lying on the sand a few yards away, crying. No, she was sobbing.

"E-Emile… Why?! Why did you have to disappear?! WHY?!" she sobbed.

I silently walked up to the Chikorita and placed my hand on her shoulder. "Are you looking for someone, Jade?"

Jade looked up. Her eyes, red and puffy from crying, widened.

"E…Emile…?" she said weakly.

"Hey, Jade," I said.

"Emile?! It's really you?!" she said.

"It's really me, Jade. The one and only Emile."

Jade flew into my arms. "Emile! Emile! It's really you! _IT'S REALLY YOU!_ Oh my Arceus! They told me that you'd never come back, but I knew they were wrong! I knew you'd come back! _I simply knew it!_" Jade cried. She was _really_ crying now, but not tears of sadness. Tears of joy.

"Yeah," was all I could say.

"How did you do it? How did you come back?" Jade asked.

I opened my mouth to try and answer her question, but before I could, Dialga's ancient voice echoed in my head.

_"__THIS IS MY THANKS. PLEASE ACCEPT IT."_

"Oh… I don't know… Maybe it had something to do with Dialga?" I gave Jade a vague smile just to let her know that was the case. Jade smiled back.

"I'm so glad you're back… It's been so lonely without you…" she said, her face still bright with a smile.

We spent a few moments on the beach, locked in an embrace, too happy to say anything. The only sound was the waves crashing on the shore and the caw of Wingulls passing overhead.

Then I broke the silence. "Hey, Jade, let's go back to the guild. I wanna see their faces when they realize I'm back." I smiled.

"I do too." Jade smiled back.

I turned to the cliff and led the way up to Wigglytuff's Guild. Jade followed close behind.

And right then, I was the happiest Pokémon on the planet.

_It's so good to be home again._

XxX

**Well, I guess this is the end of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Follow Your Heart...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**OR IS IT?!**

**Yep! Because of all the positive feedback I've been getting, I'm gonna post my novelization of the ****_aftergame_**** of Sky in a few days! Isn't it gonna be great?**

**...**

**Yeah... not really.**

**Stay tuned for part two, which will be up sometime soon! Happy writing!**


	42. Chapter 41: Mystifying Forest

**IMMA BACK!**

**No, don't worry, I'm not quite dead yet. (in fact, I think I'm getting better) I'm just not going to be updating this story as often. But hey, the chapters will be longer! So it isn't all bad, right?**

**Anyway, without further ado, I give you the forty-first chapter. Enjoy.**

Chapter 41: Mystifying Forest

Long story short, everyone at the guild was overly excited to see that I had returned. Wigglytuff almost hugged me to death, Bidoof was crying emotional tears the whole time, and Loudred kept yelling "YEAH! YOU'RE BACK!" in my ear. It was the perfect homecoming.

After my fantastic surprise homecoming, it was back to work as usual at the guild. Jade and I worked harder than ever and tried to forget about the Temporal Tower incident. As far as I could tell, time was flowing normally everywhere.

There was still a multitude of Pokémon and dungeons. I had absolutely no idea why, but it made our jobs all the more difficult.

In short, life was as normal as you could get in a world of talking Pokémon.

Until that one day…

About two months after my reappearance, Chatot had a very special announcement for us.

"You two have been selected as candidates for graduation from the guild!" Chatot said.

Chatot's announcement made the whole guild gasp in surprise. Everyone chattered on and on about graduation and why they weren't picked to graduate instead.

"How come you get to graduate this early? I've been here for three years and we haven't gotten the chance to graduate," Diglett griped.

"Now, now, I'm pretty sure you didn't save the world, Diglett," Chatot said.

"Graduation? What's that?" Jade asked.

"When you graduate from the guild, you will no longer have to deal with our strict training program! You can explore wherever you want, whenever you want!" Chatot said grandly.

"That sounds pretty cool," I said.

"In order to graduate, however, you'll need to pass your 'graduation exam'," Chatot said.

"Graduation exam? What's that?" Jade asked.

"It's a task that you have to perform that deems you worthy enough to graduate from the guild," Chatot explained.

"Oh! That makes sense!" Jade said.

"But be warned: our exams are incredibly challenging," Chatot warned.

"One year Loudred took the graduation exam… and he failed spectacularly!" Chimecho said, playfully patting Loudred on the back.

Loudred went red. "Shut UP! Don't even REMIND me of that!"

"So what's our exam?" I asked.

"You need to go to a place called Luminous Spring and bring back the treasure there," Wigglytuff said. "Luminous Spring is a place where Pokémon go when they're ready to evolve."

"Whoa! You can go there to evolve? That's so cool! Why didn't we think of going to Luminous Spring before going to the Hidden Land?" Jade said, slapping herself on the forehead.

Evolution. It sounded appealing to me. I was pretty powerful as I was now, but I could only imagine how powerful I'd be when I evolved into Lucario. I would be a powerhouse of destruction. I would be able to defeat any number of Dialgas with a flick of my finger!

"Even if you wanted to go there, you couldn't evolve there due to the whole time distortion thing. But now that you've saved time, Luminous Spring should be 'working' again," Chatot said.

"Oh. Okay," Jade said. "So where is Luminous Spring?"

"It's in the deepest part of a place called Mystifying Forest. However… there is supposedly a monster that lurks deep in the forest," he said ominously.

"A… monster?" Jade asked. "What's it called?"

"It's called… the Grand Master of All Things Bad!" Wigglytuff said after a dramatic pause.

There was a long silence. Wigglytuff smiled darkly, apparently waiting for terror to set in.

_The… Grand Master of All Things Bad? There's something… odd about that name. It sounds like something that Wigglytuff would come up with…_

"Anyway, good luck on your exam! Yoom TAH!" All the tension in the room melted away.

The assembly broke up, and everyone swarmed us and wished us good luck on our exam.

I saw Loudred out of the corner of my eye. He looked very embarrassed.

I walked up to him. "Hey, Loudred… You said that you took the exam before, right?" I asked.

"Uh-huh. And let me tell you, it was TERRIBLE!" Loudred said sourly.

"Can you tell us what was so terrible about it?" Jade asked.

"Nope! I'm not allowed to tell ANYONE! Not even YOU TWO, even though you DID save the world!" Loudred said. He walked off before we could ask any more questions.

"Well, what do you say we go to Treasure Town and prepare for our exam?" Jade asked.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," I responded.

And with that, we went up the ladder to prepare in Treasure Town.

We were just walking in to Treasure Town when Teddiursa and an Ursaring walked up to us.

"Hey, Teddiursa. Hey Ursaring," I said.

"Where are you headed off to?" Jade asked.

"Oh, we're going to Mystifying Forest," Ursaring said casually.

Jade and I jumped a little in surprise. "What?!"

"But I thought that there was a monster in Mystifying Forest!" Jade said.

"Yeah! Wigglytuff said something about a Grand Master of All Things Bad," I said.

Teddiursa and Ursaring looked at each other.

"A… Grand Master of All Things Bad?" Teddiursa said. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"We go to play in Mystifying Forest every week and we haven't run into this 'Grand Master' that you speak of. You may have misheard a bad rumor or something," Ursaring said.

"C'mon, Daddy! Let's go already!" Teddiursa said impatiently.

The two walked off to the Forest.

Jade looked at me nervously. "I don't want them running into the Grand Master… They're pretty nice Pokémon, and I don't want them getting hurt…"

"Don't worry about them, Jade. I'm sure they'll be fine. We just need to worry about ourselves," I said.

"Yeah, good point. We should stock up on items. We never know when the 'Grand Master of All Things Bad' might show up," Jade said.

And we went into Treasure Town to stock up on the necessary items for our graduation.

Soon we were ready to go to Mystifying Forest. I was about to get Ani-Chan and Sparky when Jade stopped me.

"This is _our_ graduation exam, not Ani-Chan and Sparky's graduation exam. I think we should go without them. It's not like I don't like them, I just wanna have this thing to ourselves," Jade added quickly.

"No, no, it's fine. What you're saying makes perfect sense," I said.

Leaving Ani-Chan and Sparky behind, we set out for Mystifying Forest.

Soon we were at Mystifying Forest. Jade and I took a moment to gain our bearings before setting out into the forest.

We found a lot of common Grass types like Seedot and Bellsprout as we hiked through the forest. There was also a multitude of Bug types, like Caterpie and Wurmple. They all fell in one hit, even if Brick Break wasn't the most effective move.

On the eighth floor, we were both in for a nasty surprise. Jade and I were just walking around looking for the stairs, when suddenly Jade stumbled forward and fell on me as if she had been hit by something.

"Hey! Why'd you fall on me?" I asked.

"Ugh… Do you think it was my fault? It was that—Holy Arceus…" Jade's jaw dropped, and she stared wide-eyes at the thing that hit her.

Behind Jade was another near-identical Chikorita. The Chikorita approached Jade and prepared to attack her again, but I leapt forward and hit it with Force Palm. Well, that's what I would've liked to have happened.

Instead of hitting the enemy Chikorita, I accidentally hit Jade.

"Ow! What the—" Jade swore viciously at me. After letting her anger out on me, she used Giga Drain and took out the Chikorita.

"Watch where you're hitting, you idiot!" Jade said indignantly. She rubbed the place where I had hit her. She didn't seem too wounded, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

I took out an Oran Berry from my Explorer Bag and gave it to Jade. "Aren't you glad that I packed extra Oran Berries?"

We continued to hike through the forest with no incident. All the while I was thinking about graduating from the guild. In a way, I was glad to get away from having to jobs every day, but there were so many memories tied to Wigglytuff's Guild. I would also be kind of sad to leave.

We got past the thirteenth floor with no incident and entered a small grove full of soft grass. There was a large pile of dark leaves ahead of us, and when I peered through the trees surrounding us, I could see a soft light.

"Hey, I see something through the trees ahead of us!" I said.

"That might be Luminous Spring! Let's go!" Jade said happily. She made her way to the trees ahead of us, but before we could check out what was behind them, Teddiursa and Ursaring appeared behind us.

"Oh. Hey, you two," I said.

"Hi, Team Aura!" Teddiursa said gleefully.

"Did you find your 'Grand Master of All Things Bad'?" Ursaring teased.

Jade and I looked awkwardly at each other. "Oh, um… no. Maybe you were right. We may have misheard a bad rumor," Jade said, turning pink.

"So anyway, Luminous Spring is just up ahead. Are you coming with us?" Teddiursa asked.

"Sure!" I said.

Teddiursa and Ursaring walked on ahead. We began to follow him, but when we put our feet on the dark leaves…

The leaves fell away, revealing a large hole below our feet.

"Oh…" Then we fell.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Jade cried as we plummeted down through the darkness. It was very terrifying to say the least. We could be falling into a pit of spikes or lava, and we wouldn't know what was coming.

We seemed to fall for hours before landing on a rock solid floor. Jade fell on top of me, and after a little swearing, she got off me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," Jade said.

"You claim to be fine now… But once we're finished with you, you'll be anything BUT fine!" The voice startled me. It seemed to emanate from all around us, which was very creepy.

"Wah! W-who are you?" Jade cried.

"I… am the Grand Master of All Things Bad!" the voice said.

_So the Grand Master of All Things Bad WAS real?! But hold on… Why does that voice sound so… familiar?_

"Waaaaah! What do we do?" Jade cried.

"You can't do anything! You will be trapped here for all eternity!" the Grand Master said.

"Agh… W-We'll fight you if we have to!" Jade said bravely. "I'm sure we could take you out!"

"Oh, I'm not the only one in here! You are surrounded!" the Grand Master said.

"S-surrounded?" Jade asked tremulously.

"You are surrounded…" the Grand Master said.

"…By all of the Grand Master's minions!" a new voice said. The new voice was different from the Grand Master's voice, but it still sounded familiar to me…

"W-wah…" Jade muttered.

The Grand Master and his minions began to laugh manically. Jade clutched my hand and made a small squeaking noise.

"I-I'm scared…" she said through chattering teeth.

"Don't worry, Jade. We'll defeat the Grand Master and his minions," I said reassuringly.

"B-b-but how? There's no light…"

"We'll have to find a way to light up this place then." No sooner had the words left my mouth when bright sunlight flooded the hole. It took me a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness, but when I did, I could finally see that Jade and I were surrounded. But not by the Grand Master of All Things Bad.

We were surrounded by Wigglytuff and all our fellow guild members.

Everyone was there: Wigglytuff, Chatot, Loudred, Sunflora, Chimecho, Corphish, Diglett, Dugtrio, and Croagunk. The only one who wasn't surrounding us was Bidoof, and when I looked up, I could barely see the chubby brown face of Bidoof.

"What the—Bidoof?!" Chatot cried indignantly. "Why did you blow our act?!"

"Oh… I did? Gawsh. I'm sorry. I just thought you wanted some more light down there… I-I've never helped out with a graduation exam… Sorry!" Bidoof called down.

Chatot slapped his wing over his face. "That Bidoof… He always messes things up."

Jade sighed. "You guys… you do know that this is the lamest joke ever, right?" Jade said.

"Seriously. How about you just stop pretending and help us out of here?" I said.

"Yeah, Wigglytuff," Jade said.

A flicker of confusion flashed across Wigglytuff's face, but it was soon replaced by a maniacal smile.

"Wigglytuff? I don't know about this 'Wigglytuff' you speak of!" Wigglytuff said.

Chatot stiffened and put a menacing look on his face as well. All the other apprentices followed him.

"Y-yeah! I'm not Chatot! T-totally!" Chatot said hastily.

"We're the Grand Master's minions! I'm totally not Sunflora!" Sunflora said.

"And I'm not Chimecho!" Chimecho said.

"Uh huh. Yeah. Anyway, I guess we're gonna have to fight you. Sorry," Jade said.

"Are you ready?" I whispered.

"Yeah. I'm gonna get that Chatot back if it's the last thing I do…" Jade whispered.

"Now… Prepare to face the horror that is the Grand Master of All Things Bad! YOOM… TAH!" Wigglytuff said.

Wigglytuff charged at us, and our graduation exam began.

Jade quickly took out Diglett with Giga Drain, and I challenged Chimecho with Bite. Chimecho squealed in pain and fell to the ground, defeated.

Two guild members were down, but seven more members were left. Croagunk targeted Jade with Poison Jab. Dugtrio buried underground with Dig and prepared to launch his attack. Sunflora tried out her Razor Leaf, but it barely fazed Jade.

Corphish, Loudred, Wigglytuff, and Chatot turned their attention to me. Loudred used Uproar, which greatly hurt my ears. I somehow knew that no one could fall asleep after Loudred used Uproar.

Corphish growled and spat out a beam of water at me. Chatot moved in to attack, but before they could attack me, I hit Loudred. He was no match for my Brick Break, and he fell in one hit. I then scampered away from the "Grand Master of All Things Bad" and his "minions".

Jade and I had to team up on Croagunk to take him out. Just as we thought that we might actually stand a chance, Dugtrio unleashed Dig on Jade.

Jade yelped and stumbled back. She looked like she was about ready to faint.

"Stupid Dugtrio… Of course he gets a critical hit…" she groaned.

"Whoa, Jade. Are you okay?" I asked.

"Urk… I'll be fine. Get rid of Corphish. I'll help you with Chatot and Wigglytuff in a second," Jade groaned. She quickly used Giga Drain and took out Dugtrio. Her wounds healed instantly.

"Giga Drain," Jade said with a smile. "It's not only an attack, but it also heals you. Pretty handy, huh?"

"Cool," I said. I could only think about how convenient it would be to have an attack that damages the opponent and heals you at the same time.

I turned my attention to Corphish, who was getting ready to attack me. But before he got the chance, I hit him with Force Palm. Jade followed up with Magical Leaf, and Corphish collapsed.

Now only Wigglytuff and Chatot were left. Wigglytuff curled up into a tight ball and raised his defense using Defense Curl. Chatot set up Mirror Move, and I made a mental note not to attack Chatot while his Mirror Move was up.

Instead, Jade and I focused on Wigglytuff. He was really defensive while he had Defense Curl up, so our attacks did less damage than we wanted. But after a while of beating up on him, Wigglytuff was panting.

"Ugh… You haven't defeated me… You have my minion to defeat…" he gasped.

"Chatot," Jade said in a low growl.

Chatot's Mirror Move was down, luckily for us. So we focused our attacks on him. Chatot was less resilient than Wigglytuff, but much more powerful than him. He used Peck, which was a real annoyance, and Fury Attack, which hit us multiple times. But we pressed on, using our best moves on him, and eventually Chatot was defeated.

I hit Wigglytuff with two more Force Palms, and then he too went down.

Everyone was lying on the ground, defeated. They all looked utterly surprised that we had beat them, but they weren't the only ones who were surprised.

Jade and I were pretty much in shock that we had gotten rid of nine of our best friends. Bidoof wasn't here; he was keeping watch for us outside the hole. But we had laid a good beating on everyone else from the guild. I was both happy and sad; now we could get out of the hole and go to Luminous Spring, but all our fellow guild members… were they seriously hurt?

Wigglytuff groaned and sat up. Everyone else followed his example.

"Ugh… How is it that you could defeat… the Grand Master of All Things Bad…?" Wigglytuff groaned.

"Yeah. Nice joke, 'Grand Master'. Now get out of here before I beat you up again," Jade said.

"Ugh… WAAAAAAAH! R-run away! RUN AWAY!" Wigglytuff said.

Wigglytuff scampered out of the hole. Chatot followed close behind. All of the "Grand Master's" other "minions" raced out of the hole, screaming.

Jade looked at me. "Um… What was that…?"

"Worst joke ever," I said.

"It wasn't even a joke. It was just that unfunny," Jade said.

"Yeah. But are we gonna just sit around here and talk about how unfunny this 'joke' was, or are we gonna go get the treasure of Luminous Spring?" I asked.

"We're gonna go get the treasure. Definitely," Jade said.

Jade walked over to the side of the hole and began to hike up it. I followed close behind her.

In minutes we were out of the hole and ready to go to Luminous Spring. We followed a path through the trees and emerged in a clearing.

Ahead of us was a large pool of water that sparkled brightly, even though the thick trees above us blocked out the sunlight. Strange plants and tall trees grew all around it. Several rocks lined the edge of the water. It was a very mysterious place to be.

Teddiursa and Ursaring were standing by the edge of the water, examining a gold treasure chest. They looked up when they heard us walking to them.

"Hey, Team Aura!" Teddiursa said gleefully.

"Hey, you two. How's it going?" Jade asked.

"Good, but when we got here, we found a strange treasure chest that wasn't here before…" Ursaring said, gesturing to the chest.

"I think this is it," I whispered to Jade.

"Yeah," Jade said.

I walked up to the chest. "Would you excuse me for a moment? I need to see this treasure chest."

"Oh, sure," Teddiursa said, obligingly moving aside for me.

I put my hand on the chest and was about ready to open it, but before I could, a familiar dizzy feeling descended upon me.

_A Dimensional Scream, _I thought. _I haven't had one of these for quite a while now…_

In my vision, I saw Wigglytuff walking up to the edge of the spring. He looked around a few times before setting the gold treasure chest down. He looked around a few more times, and when he was sure no one had seen him, he skedaddled off.

My vision faded, and I was left staring at the treasure chest.

_So Wigglytuff put the chest here… This must be the treasure of Luminous Spring._

I opened up the chest, and a large, shiny, completely flawless red apple tumbled out of it. I recognized the apple as a Perfect Apple, the apple that Wigglytuff loved.

I snickered. _Wigglytuff… Wow. The almighty treasure of Luminous Spring is… a Perfect Apple._

"We found the treasure of Luminous Spring!" I said, holding up the apple triumphantly.

"Wow, a Perfect Apple? Three guesses on who put it there!" Jade said through a fit of giggles.

"So, we passed our graduation exam. What do we do now? Go back to the guild?" I asked.

Before Jade could answer, there was a bright flash behind us. We all turned to the spring behind us and saw that there was now a column of light in the middle of the pond.

"Whoa. Could that be…?" Ursaring said.

"I think Luminous Spring's working again," Jade said.

"Whoa! Really?! Yay! That's so cool!" Teddiursa said in awe.

"So I guess that means that Pokémon can evolve here now," I said.

"Oh! Yeah! That reminds me… Dad!" Teddiursa turned to Ursaring. "Can I evolve now? I wanna be a big Ursaring like you now!" she begged.

"It'll be really hard to tell us apart if you evolve now…" Ursaring said.

"I'm a girl. You're a guy. All we have to do is speak, and they'll know who's who," Teddiursa said excitedly. "Please, Daddy! Let me evolve!"

Ursaring sighed. "Well… If you really want to… You are aware that evolution can't be undone, right? So if you evolve into Ursaring, you'll never be a Teddiursa again."

"Yes, yes, I know! But I wanna be an Ursaring! I really do!"

"If you insist…" Ursaring sighed.

"Yay! Thanks, Daddy!" Teddiursa skipped up to the water, and after a moment's hesitation, she walked into the water.

The water in the spring wasn't that deep; it barely rose to Teddiursa's knees. She walked to the center and stood in the column of light.

**"****Do you seek evolution?" **A deep and powerful voice rang out in my mind. Judging from Jade and Ursaring's expression, it had spoken to them as well.

"Y-yes…" Teddiursa stammered.

**"****Do you require an item for evolution?" **the voice asked.

"Um… N-no… I don't think so…"

The voice paused for a moment. **"Very well. Let us begin."**

The column of light around Teddiursa grew too bright to look at. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the light to fade. The light faded after a moment, and I opened my eyes to see that Teddiursa was no longer there. In her place was a mighty Ursaring.

The Ursaring in the spring was slightly smaller than the Ursaring outside of the spring, and the fur on its shoulders was slightly longer. But other than that, the two Ursarings were practically identical.

The new Ursaring raced out to meet the old one. "Yes! I did it, Daddy! I'm an Ursaring now!" The new Ursaring's voice was deeper, but it still sounded somewhat like Teddiursa's voice.

The old Ursaring smiled. "Congratulations. But now it's kind of hard to tell us apart…"

"So what? I'm as strong as you, Daddy!" the new Ursaring said.

The old Ursaring embraced the new Ursaring in a hug. When they broke apart, the new Ursaring looked down at Jade. "Hey, Jade, I have a question for you. Do you want to evolve?"

"E-evolve?! Yes, I guess, but tell me: does it hurt?" Jade said.

"Nope! It just feels like you've hit a sudden growth spurt. It doesn't hurt one bit," Ursaring reported.

"Alright, then. I guess I'll try. What do I have to lose?" Jade stepped into the water and began making her way to the light.

_Jade's seriously gonna evolve? It's gonna be really weird having a Bayleef that's two heads taller than me as my partner… But she'll certainly be stronger… And that's good…_

Jade reached the middle of the pond and stepped into the light. The mysterious voice spoke up again.

**"****Do you seek evolution?" **it asked.

"Yep! I wanna become a Bayleef!" Jade said happily.

**"****Do you require an item for evolution?" **the voice asked.

"Nope!" Jade said, bouncing up and down in excitement.

**"****Very well. Let us begin."**

There was a very long pause.

_What? Why isn't Jade evolving? Luminous Spring should be working now…_

"Hey mister? What's up? Why am I not evolving?" Jade said to the light.

**"…****No," **the voice said.

"No?! What do you mean, no?! Do I need an item or something?"

**"****No. It is not that you don't have the right item. You simply can't evolve," **the voice said.

"Why can't I evolve?! I evolve into Bayleef and Meganium! I can evolve!" Jade cried.

"**I sense… a distortion," **the voice said. **"You distort the space around you. You cannot evolve if you distort space."**

"What?! Why can't I evolve? Teddiursa just evolved, and I bet my hat that Emile over here can evolve too! So why not me?" Jade asked.

**"****You are not the only one who cannot evolve… There is another," **the voice said.

"Who?"

**"****The one behind you… The Riolu… he cannot evolve either."**

"I—Me neither?!" I cried.

** "****Both of you cause distortions in space, and therefore you cannot evolve."**

"B-but… I really wanna evolve," Jade pouted.

**"****You might just be able to, if you get rid of the distortion around you. But until then, I'm afraid that I cannot evolve you," **the voice said.

"Ugh… So lame!" Jade groaned.

**"****Come visit me again if you seek awakening," **the voice said.

"Hey! You! Wait! What's a 'distortion in space'? Why do we distort space? Tell us!" Jade demanded. But there was no response.

"Jade…" I said carefully.

"Ugh! That stinks! I wanna be a Bayleef!" Jade complained.

"Jade, how about we head on back to the guild? We got the treasure from Luminous Spring and passed our graduation exam," I suggested carefully.

"Yeah… Congrats on your evolution, Ursaring," Jade said.

"Thank you," both Ursarings said at once.

"Um… Well, see you two later," Jade said, taking one last look of hatred at Luminous Spring.

We touched our badges, and half a second later, we were in front of the guild.

As soon as we stepped into the guild, we were swarmed by all of our fellow apprentices. They were all gibbering and bubbling with excitement.

"Did you get the treasure?" Chimecho asked.

"Hey, hey, did you meet the Grand Master of All Things Bad?" Corphish asked.

"Er… By golly… I… er heard that you… um… met the Grand Master of All Things Bad… are y'all okay?" Bidoof stuttered.

"Yes! We found the treasure of Luminous Spring! We'll tell you all about it—just stop talking!" Jade yelled over the chatter.

We were herded down to sublevel two of the guild. We told our story about how we ran into the "Grand Master of All Things Bad", how we'd bravely defeated the "Grand Master" and his "minions", how we went to Luminous Spring and got the treasure, and how we couldn't evolve due to a "distortion of space", whatever that meant.

"…And that's what happened," Jade concluded.

"Oh, and the 'Grand Master of All Things Bad' looked _suspiciously _like Wigglytuff… And his 'minions' looked like all of you guys. Would anyone care to speak up about this?" I said.

The guild members exchanged nervous glances. Bidoof began to say, "Darn it! They know!" before being shushed by Chatot. After a brief moment of silence, Wigglytuff spoke up.

"The… Grand Master of All Things Bad? Nope! Never heard of him!" he said, putting on an unconvincing smile.

"Uh huh. Yeah. Totally," Jade said, unconvinced.

"And we were totally not the minions of the Grand Master of All Things Bad! Nope! Totally not!" Chatot said.

"Yeah… Right. Uh huh. I believe you," Jade said sarcastically.

"You can stop the charade, you know. We know it was you," I said.

"Congratulations! You two passed your graduation exam, and therefore, you have graduated from the guild!" Chatot said, hastily changing the subject.

"Sweet!" Jade said, completely forgetting about the Grand Master.

"Now you don't have to do jobs every day of your life! You can explore wherever you want, whenever you want!" Chatot continued.

"Cool! Does that mean that we get to keep all the money from our jobs? I wanna be the richest explorer out there!" Jade said hopefully.

"No. See, you are still affiliated with the guild, so you must give up ninety percent of your earnings from your jobs. Sorry," Chatot said.

"What's the point, then?" Jade muttered, her head hanging low.

"What's the point?! WHAT'S THE POINT?! You two GRADUATED! That just proves how AWESOME you are! You're MORE AWESOME than ME!" Loudred boomed.

"Yeah! You're totally cool if you passed the training program!" Sunflora said.

"Aw, thanks, guys…" Jade said.

"No problem! We always make our friends cheer up, right, everyone?" Wigglytuff said.

"RIGHT!" everyone chorused.

"So, congratulations on graduating! Keep on exploring!" Wigglytuff said.

"Come visit your friends at the guild, you hear?" Chimecho said.

"Okay! We certainly will!" I said.

"Good luck, friends!" Wigglytuff said.

As Jade and I climbed up the ladder out of the guild, I didn't feel crestfallen like I was in Mystifying Forest. I was happy. I could still see my friends. I could still do jobs, just like the old days. And I could still explore with Jade…

I was truly happy that I was a Riolu.

XxX

**Hooray for cheesy endings! And I always thought that Teddiursa and Ursaring were father and daughter. I would appreciate if you don't start freking out and saying "BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST FRIENDS" in the reviews. Thanks.  
**


	43. Chapter 42: Blizzard Island Rescue Team

**WARNING: Everyone in Team Aura complains about the cold in this chapter, and it gets very tiring after a while. Continue at your own risk...**

**Also, epic Rescue Team remix is** **epic.**

Chapter 42: Blizzard Island Rescue Team Medley

We lost our room at the guild, so Jade had insisted that we locate our exploration team base in Sharpedo Bluff.

"It's almost the same as the guild, but Loudred won't always yell at us to wake up!" Jade said.

"'UP AND AT EM'! IT'S MORNING!'" I said in a bad imitation of Loudred's voice.

The first night in our new home went very well. Jade and I fell asleep to the gentle sound of the ocean waves below us. It was very peaceful, and I definitely preferred Sharpedo Bluff to our room at Wigglytuff's Guild.

I woke to the sound of twittering Starlys passing by our ocean view. It was a relief to wake up to the peaceful sound of birds instead of the not-so-peaceful sound of Loudred.

I sat by the huge "window" and stared out into the sea until Jade woke up. She gave me a quick "Good morning!" and insisted that we go to Spinda's Café for a drink. I agreed. After all, I was getting pretty hungry.

When we got to Spinda's Café, we were nearly knocked over by the sound of a vast chattering crowd. All sorts of Pokémon, from Sneasel to Mawile to Heracross were at the café. They seemed very tired, as if they'd embarked on an expedition.

"Whoa! What's going on?" Jade asked.

"What's going on? Well, last night, we got back from this place called Sky Peak," Mawile said.

"Sky Peak?" I echoed.

"It was this really cool mountain with lots of flowers and vegetation. The top of the mountain had a _wicked _view!" a Zigzagoon said.

"There was also a village full of Pokémon called Shaymin," Breloom said.

"Oh, man, I wish we could've come," Jade said enviously.

"Don't feel too down about it! You two can explore Sky Peak in your own time! Let me just show you where it is," Mawile said. We took out our Wonder Map, and Mawile pointed out a tall mountain. "There it is! The Shaymin Village is at the base of the mountain. It's really cool! You two should visit sometime!"

"Thanks! We will!"

After a quick drink with Ani-Chan and Sparky, we were ready to head out. When we left Spinda's Café, however, we were greeted by an Arbok, a Weavile, and a Drapion: three sinister looking Pokémon who were poring over maps.

Weavile looked up when she saw us. "Oh. Hey. It's you two," she said roughly.

"Team Aura. Isssssss it true that you sssssssaved the world?" Arbok hissed.

"Yeah," I said.

"I guess we owe you for saving the world and all. So how about this? We'll show you the location of Zero Isle," Weavile said.

"Zero Isle?" Jade asked.

"Just take out your Wonder Map and I'll show you," Weavile said.

We obligingly took out our Wonder Map and gave it to Weavile. She pointed to a small island a few miles off the coast of the Hidden Land.

"Is that Zero Isle?" Jade asked.

"Yeah. See, Zero Isle is split up into four parts: Zero Isle North, Zero Isle South, Zero Isle East, and Zero Isle West. In Zero Isle North, you won't get any stronger from the Pokémon you defeat there. Zero Isle East and West temporarily sets you to level one and prohibits you from bringing items into it. At Zero Isle South, you're temporarily set to level one, you can't bring items, and you can't bring your partner… It's terrible," Weavile said.

"Why would you want to go somewhere that horrible?" Jade asked.

"There's tonsssssss of treassssssssure there… And we're gonna get it all!" Arbok said cockily.

"So egotistical," Jade muttered to me.

"I guess we'll see you around," Weavile said. The three treasure hunters walked away.

"So what should we do now?" Jade asked once the trio were gone.

"Um… I don't really know…" I said.

"Well, Chatot said that we could explore wherever we want, right? We don't have to take jobs or anything," Jade said. "So where do you wanna go?"

"I kind of want to go back to Luminous Spring and see if it'll let us evolve now," I said.

"That's a pretty good idea," Jade said.

So we set off for Mystifying Forest. Long story short, we still couldn't evolve. The mysterious voice kept going on about a "distortion in space" or whatever. It wasn't a complete waste of time, though. We found a TM for Energy Ball and gave it to Ani-Chan to use. She was much stronger now that she had a ranged attack.

The next day, when we went down to Spinda's Café and found an Eevee that wanted us to retrieve an "Icy Rock" for her. The Eevee was overjoyed and raced out of the café to go evolve at Luminous Spring. That was another slap in the face to Jade and I, who still couldn't evolve.

The next day, as we were going to get a drink at the café, we ran into a Mr. Mime.

"Hey! Aren't you the ones who saved the world?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"You are? Well, I have some juicy news for you!" Mr. Mime said.

"Juicy news? Do tell us," Jade said.

"Well, do you know about Blizzard Island?" Mr. Mime asked.

"Can't say that I have," I said.

"Well, Blizzard Island is this really cold island off the coast of Zero Isle. It's really unforgiving," Mr. Mime said. "One time, a famous explorer named Scizor went off to Blizzard Island… and he never came back! Spooky, huh?"

"That is pretty spooky," Jade said.

"Yeah," Mr. Mime said.

"Say, Emile… Sky Peak would take too long to climb… And Zero Isle is probably too hard for us… How about we go to Blizzard Island?" Jade suggested.

"That sounds like a pretty good plan," I said. "Let's get Sparky and Ani-Chan."

"You're really gonna go? Well, good luck, then. I don't want you to end up like Scizor…" Mr. Mime said, concern in his voice.

"Don't worry, Mr. Mime. We'll be fine. We saved the world, how hard could it be?" Jade said.

"Don't be too cocky. Scizor was sure that he'd come back okay, and…" Mr. Mime gulped.

"Okay, okay. We'll be careful," I said.

Jade and I went to go fetch Ani-Chan and Sparky from Spinda's Café. Then we prepared to set out for Blizzard Island.

Turns out the only way to get to Blizzard Island was to ride on the back of a Lapras. Jade told me that Lapras resided at the beach, and sure enough, when we went down there, Lapras was sitting on the beach, partially submerged in the water.

"Hello, you four. Would you like to go to the Hidden Land? I can take you there if you wish," Lapras said.

"Oh, um, thanks, but no thanks. We want to go to a place called Blizzard Island. Can you take us there?" I asked.

"Blizzard Island? I know where it is. But are you sure you want to go there? It's very cold there," Lapras warned.

"We're sure," Jade said.

"Alright, then. Hop on my back. And try not to zap me, Sparky," Lapras added as Sparky climbed on.

"Yo, dude. Chill out. I'm not gonna zap you. I only zap my enemies," Sparky said.

"If you say so," Lapras said.

Soon we were sailing away on Lapras' back. He was a very fast swimmer, and within an hour, we were at Blizzard Island.

Right away I could tell that the dungeon would be rough. For one, everything was freezing cold, and I had a thick layer of fur. I could only imagine how chilly it would be for Jade or Ani-Chan.

Blizzard Island was also quite big. I could see a mountain range, a cave, and a huge plain full of fluffy white snow before I had gotten off of Lapras. It would take the whole day to search the entire island.

Lapras let us off his back. "Now, you four, be careful. I don't want you coming home with frostbite."

"We will. Thanks for taking us here, Lapras," Jade thanked.

"Any time," Lapras said with a serene smile.

I noticed that there wasn't a Kangaskhan Rock at the beginning of the dungeon. I found this odd, and a little suspicious too. Even if there was a Kangaskhan Rock I probably wouldn't have used it anyway. We had the best items that we could get.

"E-E-E-Emile…" Jade said through chattering teeth. "C-c-can you p-p-please h-h-h-hurry up?"

"I'm getting really cold…" Ani-Chan said.

"Not cool, dudes… N-n-not cool…" Sparky said.

"Okay! Okay!" I said. I led the team into the depths of Blizzard Island.

There were many Pokémon that I had never seen before. The first enemy I found was a very weak Piplup. Later on we found a Snorunt that didn't seem bothered by the cold at all.

Blizzards were common. We had to take frequent breaks and huddle together to stay warm in a blizzard. But we had to watch out for any Ice types. Ice types seemed to have enhanced abilities during a blizzard.

Hail was even worse than blizzards. We were constantly pounded by the hard chunks of ice, which is terrible as it is, but I couldn't help but notice that all the Ice type Pokémon weren't affected by the hail at all. It just bounced off their skin with no ill effects. It made me very agitated to see them unaffected by the icy conditions.

After twenty grueling floors of bad weather and Ice type Pokémon, we reached an entrance to an icy cave. I couldn't see too deep into the cave, but I could tell from the inhuman growls echoing in there that it was probably another dungeon. A Kangaskhan Rock covered in a thin layer of frost stood right outside it.

"Ugh… I-i-is it j-j-just me… or is it c-c-c-colder… now?" a shivering Jade said.

"It's n-not just you, J-J-Jade…" I said, my teeth also chattering.

"We'll have f-f-f-frostbite by the t-t-time we get off th-th-this island…" Ani-Chan said.

"Hey, guys, l-l-let's take a b-b-break and warm up… I'm fr-fr-freezing…" Sparky said.

"Good idea…" Jade said.

For the next few minutes, we all huddled together outside the cave entrance. I did notice that we were slightly warmer when we were huddling together, but we were still very cold.

"A nice fire would be nice now…" Jade said.

"Yeah, no kidding," I agreed.

"Why did you have to turn into a Riolu? Why couldn't you have turned into a Chimchar or a Charmander?" Jade asked.

"I don't know… I guess… this is what I'm meant to be," I said.

We were silent for a few more minutes until Sparky started growing impatient.

"Dudes, I'm ready to go. The sooner we go, the sooner we can get off of this place," he said.

"Good point," I said.

I quickly switched out my items at the Kangaskhan Rock while trying to ignore the freezing cold. After that, I called the team back together, and we headed into Crevice Cave.

Crevice Cave was even colder than the outside. We didn't have to deal with the freezing winds, (unless a Pokémon used Icy Wind on us) but we did have to deal with icy walls, which was a real pain, as sometimes someone would slip and tumble right into a freezing cold wall.

We found many new Pokémon, such as Golduck and Snover. One time we even ran into a huge Empoleon! It really intimidated us until Jade reminded me that Empoleons were part Steel type. Two Force Palms and the penguin went down.

Soon we found a waypoint with a Kangaskhan Rock. It seemed to be a hundred times colder than the rest of Crevice Cave.

"Brr… I'm freezing to death here…" Ani-Chan said.

"When will we get to leave?" Jade complained.

"I have the feeling that we're almost out…" I said.

"G-g-g-good…" Jade said.

Lower Crevice Cave was colder than standing naked in the middle of a blizzard in the Artic. Yeah. It was _that_ cold. We all tried our best to fight our adversaries, but it was hard to concentrate with all the cold.

The Pokémon in Lower Crevice Cave were brutal. They wouldn't go down without trying to freeze us solid. I made quick work of the Ice types in there, but it was still a very brutal challenge trying to get through the chilly cave.

Soon we reached the bottom of Crevice Cave. The bottom was no different than the rest of the dungeon: icy walls, a slippery floor, a few pools of frozen water, a few icy rocks. But at the far end of the room was a large ice cube with something red frozen in it.

"B-b-brr… I'm freezing…" Jade stuttered.

"Hey, guys! What's this?" Ani-Chan asked. She ran up to the iceberg at the end of the room.

"I don't know…" Sparky said, also walking up to the ice to investigate. But he didn't get very far before a freezing blast of icy wind knocked him and Ani-Chan back to us.

Snow flew into my face, and I shut my eyes tight to avoid getting snow in them. When the small blizzard let up, I looked up…

A very attractive looking Pokémon was hovering in front of the iceberg. She looked like an ice princess, with a white "dress", two gentle eyes, and long arms. I recognized the Pokémon as a Froslass.

"Well, hello there," she said. All my worries melted away like ice in the hot sun. Her voice… Froslass's voice was so gentle… She couldn't possibly mean any harm.

"Duh…" Sparky said. I looked over to him and found that he was gawking at Froslass, his mouth dangling, his eyes wide.

"I don't get too many visitors, you know… I'm glad that you four have visited me. I'm so lonely…" Froslass said.

"Um…" I said stupidly.

"Hee-hee… You're kind of cute, you know…" Froslass giggled. "Come closer… I like you…"

Jade put a hand on my shoulder, and I realized that I must've been trying to walk forward to Froslass.

"Don't do it. There's something fishy about her," Jade whispered.

"Okay… Wait! Sparky!" Sparky was walking up to Froslass in a trance. Froslass was smiling and ebbing him on with soft whispers of "You must be freezing… Come closer…"

"Sparky!" Ani-Chan cried. Sparky blinked and shook his head.

"Wh-what?" he mumbled.

"Oh, come on… Why won't you come see me? I play nice," Froslass said.

Jade walked up to her and grabbed one of Froslass's arms.

"Listen, ma'am. Emile is MY boyfriend, NOT yours! You will NOT be taking him from me. YOU will NOT!" Jade screamed.

_Whoa. I thought she was just kidding when she said that she loved me… I never knew that she was serious…_

"Oh, you won't come see me? Well then… I suppose I'll just have to chill you to the bone…" Froslass said sinisterly. The air around her got much colder.

"Oh, it's on," Jade whispered.

I charged at Froslass and used Bite on her. Being a Ghost type, she was weak to Bite, which was a Dark type move. Jade used Giga Drain and Sparky used Thunderbolt. Froslass was about to attack us when Ani-Chan hit her with Stun Spore. Froslass was unable to attack us.

"Nice," I said.

"Thanks," Ani-Chan said, looking rather flattered.

For the next several turns, Sparky, Jade, Ani-Chan, and I mercilessly beat up on the snow monster. She was paralyzed for the majority of the battle right up until the end. She got in an Icy Wind attack, but I could tell that she was as good as defeated. One more hit and Froslass crumpled to the ground.

"Oh… No more… Please…" she grunted.

"Now, shove off!" Jade said.

"O-okay…" Froslass's body turned white, and she dissolved into snow that scattered around the room.

"Wow! We did it!" Ani-Chan said.

"Cool!" Sparky said.

Before we could celebrate any more, we heard an earsplitting _crack! _The huge ice block behind Froslass shattered, releasing the thing that was trapped inside. I recognized the Pokémon as Scizor.

_Scizor…! Wait! Scizor! Wasn't Scizor the explorer that disappeared here?_

Scizor collapsed to his knees and took several deep breaths.

"Ugh… Who… where…" he murmured.

We rushed over to Scizor.

"Hey! Are you okay?" I asked.

"What… happened? Did I… faint?" he asked.

"Shh. Don't worry. It's all over," Jade said.

"How about we get out of here?" Sparky said.

"But how? Scizor doesn't have a magical teleport badge like us. And… well, I don't really think Scizor's strong enough to go all that way," I said.

"N-no… I think I know of a way…" Scizor breathed. He turned to face the icy wall of the cave and took a deep breath. "Now… Let's go! X-Scissor!"

Scizor sliced his claws against the icy wall in an X motion. The icy wall shook under Scizor's attack. He used X-Scissor several more times, and eventually the ice gave way, revealing a passageway out of the cave we were stuck in.

"I saw this passageway when I first came here. That crafty Froslass must've frozen it shut," Scizor said.

"Wow, dude! That's so cool!" Sparky said in amazement.

"Thank you, young Elekid," Scizor said, twinkling down at Sparky.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here before we end up encased in icebergs! No offense, Scizor," Jade added quickly.

"None taken. Now let's go." Scizor led the way out of the icy cave.

After a few minutes of climbing up through the passageway, we reached the surface. The island seemed to be a little less cold now. Maybe it was because Froslass had been exterminated. Maybe it was because the hot sun was directly overhead now. I really didn't know, and I didn't care. Just as long as Jade didn't complain about the cold.

Lapras was waiting to take us back to the mainland. He didn't seem burdened by Scizor, which probably weighed more than twice as much as me and Jade combined.

"You were right when you said that you could carry more than Jade, Grovyle and I," I said.

Lapras smiled. "Carrying Pokémon is one of my many talents. Heck, I bet I could even carry a Groudon if I tried hard enough. And Groudons are heavy."

Soon we were back at Treasure Town. Scizor took one look at Spinda's Café and insisted that we get a drink there. So all of us went down into the café to get a few Oran Berry smoothies.

"So, Scizor," I said. "We heard that you were a famous explorer."

"Yes. I'm a famous explorer, but I've been missing so long that I fear no one knows me anymore…" Scizor said, looking down.

"But we know about you," Jade said.

"Yes." Scizor scratched his head with his claws. "I would like to reward you with something for rescuing me… but I have no money or items…"

"Oh, that's okay. It's fine…" Jade said miserably.

"Wait! I think I know of a way to reward you!" Scizor said suddenly.

"You do? Tell us! Tell us!" Jade said excitedly.

"Well… Can I trust you with a secret?" Scizor said quietly.

"Um… sure…?" Jade said uncertainly.

"I… am an honorary member of the Pokémon Exploration Team Federation," Scizor admitted.

"A member of the… what now?" I said blankly.

"The Pokémon Exploration Team Federation," Scizor repeated. "We essentially control all exploration teams."

"Um… cool, I guess…" Jade said.

"So what's that have to do with our reward?" I asked.

"As an honorary member of the Pokémon Exploration Team Federation, I have the right to bestow upon exemplary exploration teams the 'Secret Rank'," Scizor continued.

"The 'Secret Rank'?" Jade asked.

"And do you know what? I believe that you are definitely worthy of the Secret Rank," Scizor continued with a smile.

"So you're gonna give us the Secret Rank?" Jade asked excitedly.

"Yes." Scizor's voice dropped to a whisper. "But you must promise to keep the Secret Rank a secret… If word gets out about this… it won't be good for us…"

"Okay! We will!" I whispered.

"Say, what can we do if we're a secret rank exploration team?" Jade asked.

"You can do top secret missions and search for precious treasures at the ends of the earth!" Scizor said grandly.

"Really? That's cool," I said.

"When will you give us these top secret missions?" Jade inquired.

"I won't be the one giving them to you," Scizor whispered. "I'll have to trust some other Pokémon to give it to you, as I can't be seen in public. So be on the lookout for random out of place Pokémon."

"Okay… and what will we do on these secret missions?" I asked.

"You'll find out in due time." Scizor stood up. "Anyway, I must be going. Thanks again for your help, and look out for your secret missions." Scizor left the café.

"Cool! We have the Secret Rank!" Sparky said.

"We're just that awesome, apparently," Jade said.

We spent a few more minutes relaxing in the café until night fell.

"Whew! It's been a long day, hasn't it?" Jade said.

"No kidding. I'll never take fires for granted again," I said. Jade laughed. "Anyway, I guess it's time for us to turn in."

"Goodnight, guys," Jade said to Sparky and Ani-Chan.

We left Spinda's Café and returned to Sharpedo Bluff, where we made a fire. Even though we were far from Blizzard Island, we never really got the chance to just take a break and warm up.

We spent a few minutes warming up by the fire until Jade informed me that she was going to sleep. She laid down on her bed, and a second later, she was asleep.

I followed suit and laid down on my bed. Exhaustion swept over me, and I dropped off to sleep in a matter of minutes.

XxX

**Just a few notes about the dungeons that are mentioned in this chapter:**

**NO, I will NOT be making a Sky Peak saga. It would take eternity to write, it would be kind of repetitive, it's not relative to the storyline, and I kind of forgot the exact events that happened during the climb up Sky Peak.**

**I will also not be making a Zero Isle saga. I've only beaten Zero Isle North so I have no idea what's at the end of the other Zero Isles. That, and everyone in Team Aura will constantly faint and complain about the difficulty.**

**I MIGHT make one or two Secret Mission chapters if it's requested enough, but I currently do not plan on making them.**

**I'm sorry if any of you were looking forward to any of those dungeons. Don't kill me or hate me because of this.**

**Anyway, until next time, happy writing.**


	44. Chapter 43: Defy the Legends

**Sorry about the whole "OH NOES I BROKE MAH FLASH DRIVE" soap opera that I had ranted about a little while ago. It's been fixed, I won't have to rewrite this whole story, everything's all good. But I am still keeping this chapter up.  
**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 43: Defy the Legends

A few days passed, and there was little to no change in our schedule. We'd go up to the guild, get a job, do the job, go to sleep, and repeat. Occasionally a Pokémon would turn up in Spinda's Café and request a job, and we'd be glad to take it. Sometimes there would even be a bottle on the beach containing a job request. Don't ask me how the bottle got there, quite frankly, I don't know.

But one day, as we were going for a quick drink at the Café, a young Drifloon with a note clutched tightly in its hands stopped us.

"Hey! You're Team Aura, aren't you?" Drifloon asked.

"We sure are!" I replied.

"You are? Great! Well, see… um… Earlier a big red Pokémon—I think he was a Scizor? Anyway, he approached me, gave me this letter, and asked me to deliver it to Team Aura…" Drifloon said, offering us the note. "When I asked why he wouldn't deliver it himself, he suddenly remembered he had to do something, and he went away… I wonder why."

I looked at Jade, whose face was flushed with excitement.

"This must be a Secret Mission that Scizor told us about!" she whispered.

"Well, should we take it?" I asked.

Jade slapped her face. "Of course, you idiot."

I turned to Drifloon. "We'll take it!" I said.

Drifloon nodded and handed us the letter. "Anyway, I'd better be going. See you around!" The purple Pokémon slowly rose up into the air and drifted away.

Jade and I looked at the note, which was encased in a heavy envelope that had the word "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped on it in red ink. I opened the envelope up, took out the note inside, and began reading over it.

_TO: TEAM AURA_

_FROM: THE POKÉMON EXPLORATION TEAM FEDERATION_

_SUBJECT: SECRET RANK ASSIGNMENT I_

_Hello, Team Aura, and congratulations on attaining the  
__Secret Rank. This letter details your first assignment as a__  
Secret Rank exploration team._

_You are to explore the mystery dungeon Mystery  
Jungle and bring back the treasure there—the  
Grass Cornet, guarded by the legendary Pokémon  
Mew. Once you obtain the Grass Cornet, you are  
to inform us of your success. After your mission is  
completed you may keep the Grass Cornet and  
whatever items you have found in Mystery Jungle._

_This is a top secret mission—you should, under no  
circumstances, EVER tell anyone of your job. We do  
this because privacy is our number one concern._

_Once you are finished reading this letter, you  
are to destroy all evidence of it. Crumple it up, burn  
it—do whatever you can. These secret missions  
must not be revealed to the general public._

_Good luck on your first mission, Team Aura._

_-The Pokémon Exploration Team Federation_

I grabbed the note and quickly ripped it to shreds, much to Jade's surprise.

"Emile! Why did you do that?" she gasped.

"Did you read what it said at the bottom? Destroy all evidence of this," I said. "No one must know about the secret missions."

"You do know the entirety of Spinda's Café just saw you do that, right?" Jade sighed.

I looked up from the tiny pieces of paper that were in my paw to find that everyone was indeed staring at me as if I were out of my mind.

I smiled innocently. "You didn't see anything. Just… keep calm, carry on… everything's fine…"

Everyone went back to their normal business.

"You idiot! You almost gave us away!" Jade hissed.

"Hey, Jade. Do me a favor," I said. I put a hand over Jade's mouth. "Chill."

I removed my hand from Jade's mouth just in time to get a very long string of insults thrown at me. After Jade let off some steam she turned toward the exit of the café.

"C'mon, Emile. Let's go explore Mystery Jungle," Jade said.

"But what about Ani-Chan and Sparky?" I asked.

"It's a secret mission for Pokémon that have obtained the Secret Rank, so technically only we should know about this," Jade countered.

I raised my paws in surrender. "Okay, fine. You win. Let's just get this over with."

We stocked up on some items at the Kecleon Shop before departing for our first Secret Rank assignment at Mystery Jungle.

As soon as we got to Mystery Jungle I could tell that this was going to be a very long dungeon. The forest was infinitely deep, with strange, thick foliage that blocked out all the sunlight and creeping plants that I had never seen before. The air was humid, not unlike a rainforest's air, and I felt rather stuffy. Before we were even through with the first floor with the dungeon, I was feeling pretty bad.

"Urk… This place gives me the creeps," I said.

"But we need to get through this place. The Federal Pokémon Exploration Team Confederates or whatever the heck they're called said that 'we are to explore this place', which doesn't imply that we have much of a choice," Jade said.

"Fine. Fine, okay?" I sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

That was much easier said than done. The dungeon was long; much longer than any other dungeon I had been in. The multitude of tough Pokémon didn't really help much, either. Torterras, Roserades, and even the occasional Snorlax challenged us. On the twelfth floor, we found a Skuntank that brought back bad memories of Team Skull. Later that same floor we found a Koffing which also brought back bad memories. Needless to say, we defeated them both.

On the twentieth floor we even encountered a Grovyle, which made me feel… strangely nostalgic. I remembered all the adventures Jade and I had with Grovyle… I remembered riding to the Hidden Land on Lapras's back with Grovyle… I remembered his crestfallen face when he told us that we would disappear if we changed the world… And of course… I remembered his bold move, going into the Dimensional Hole with Dusknoir…

_ "__Though the parting hurts… The rest is in your hands!"_

I shook my head, dislodging me from Memoryland. I growled and hit the Grovyle ahead of me with Brick Break.

"Imposter. You'll never be as cool as the other Grovyle," I said harshly. The other Grovyle flew across the forest at my attack and slammed headfirst into a tree, causing a landslide of leaves that buried the Wood Gecko Pokémon.

On and on we went, mowing down enemies, (one time I saw another Chikorita that Jade defeated easily) occasionally getting sad when we had to defeat a Grovyle, pausing to pick up item. Typical dungeon exploring stuff.

On the thirtieth floor, however, we found ourselves in a clearing of sorts. Creepy trees and thick vine growth was all around us. The ground was made of grayish grass that looked like it had been trampled on. This part of the forest was thick with humidity and smelled faintly of a rotting flower garden.

"Yuck! Why would a legendary Pokémon be hiding out here?" Jade asked, wafting a hand in front of her "nose". (She didn't have any visible nose, but I guess she still did have one…)

"Beats me. Speaking of which, where is Mew? The letter said that Mew should be around here somewhere," I said. I did a quick scan of the rotting woods around us and didn't find hide nor hair of Mew.

"Mew? Do you mean… me?" A small voice that sort of reminded me of Ani-Chan's playful tones emanated from the air around us.

"Wah! Mew?" I cried, stumbling back in surprise.

"Where are you?" Jade asked.

"Oh. Right. You can't see me. I guess I'd better fix that," Mew said with a small chortle.

Ahead of us, a small section of the air seemed to bend and distort like heat rising off the ground. The hazy distortion slowly began to morph into a shape that seemed almost solid. There was a bright flash of light…

With a flourish of sparkles, a strange blue cat that was somehow hovering appeared out of thin air. I recognized the Pokémon as Mew, as I had seen a painting of a Mew in the Hidden Land. But that picture of Mew depicted a pink cat, while the Mew in front of us was a bright sky blue. Its short fur coat sparkled as it spun around in a circle, just like Celebi's skin, how it seemed to be constantly reflecting sunlight.

I'll admit: Mew was pretty adorable. Its bright blue eyes made its face look lovable and sweet, and its voice was small and somewhat playful, as if it couldn't do any wrong.

"Are you Mew?" I asked.

Mew giggled. "Of course I'm Mew! What, did you expect, oh, I don't know, a Blaziken?"

"Good point," I conceded.

"So what do we do now?" Jade whispered.

"Maybe we should ask it—or is it a her?—anyway, we should ask her about the Grass Cornet," I said.

"Oh! The Grass Cornet?" Mew asked. With another burst of sparkles, Mew dove into the dark trees. There was some rustling and a large crash, and a second later Mew reemerged with a pink horn wrapped in vines in her hands.

"You mean this?" she asked. Mew put the cornet up to her mouth and tooted out a few notes.

"Yeah! That's it!" I said.

"Wait… You're looking for the Seven Treasures, aren't you?" Mew realized.

_Seven Treasures? I guess that's our assignment as a Secret Rank exploration team…_

Even though I was confused and Jade didn't look as if she knew more, I replied "Yeah!"

Mew chuckled. "Well then…" She smiled and tossed the Grass Coronet into the murky forest. "If you want it, you're gonna have to fight me for it!"

"But we don't wanna hurt you," I protested.

"Oh, please! I'll be fine! You just have to worry about yourselves!" Mew chuckled.

I got into my fighting stance, ready to battle. "Okay. If you insist."

"Yay!" Mew smiled.

I approached Mew, lunging out at her with my Bite attack. Mew squealed in pain and was knocked back a little, down but not out. Jade attacked her with Energy Ball and made Mew practically rain sparkles.

Mew began to wag her tiny paw in front of her face. Her eyes glowed red, and she let loose a huge blast of air from her mouth. It knocked me over and probably would've knocked me out, but I grabbed an Oran Berry from my bag at the last second and scarfed it down.

"Metronome," Mew recited, "my signature attack. I can somehow trick my brain into using virtually any attack, including Aeroblast. It's a miracle that you weren't defeated by it."

Meanwhile, Jade had fired her Magical Leaf at Mew, who shook it off easily.

Mew's body was then surrounded by a pink aura. With a tiny "Mew smash!" she sent a blob of psychic energy hurtling towards Jade. Jade took it like a champ, not even getting knocked over by the attack.

I rushed in, using Bite once more on Mew. Jade followed up with her Giga Drain. Mew once again wagged her paw in front of her face, but instead of releasing a huge blast of air, she instead raced up to me and tackled me. It didn't faze me in the slightest. I could tell Mew was pretty much finished.

I used Bite once more, and with a loud wail of pain, Mew flopped down to the ground.

"Great job, Emile!" Jade congratulated.

"You did pretty god, too," I said.

"Urk…" Mew seemed to be slowly recovering from our battle. She sat up, brushed off the dust on her body, and in just a moment she was hovering again.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. Are you okay?" Mew asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"So… can you get the Grass Cornet for us?" Jade asked.

"Oh! Yeah! Sure thing!" Mew bubbled cheerfully. She vanished into the forest, and with another loud crash the blue cat appeared. She held the pink horn in her hands.

I walked up to Mew and took the Grass Cornet from Mew with a grateful "Thank you!"

"No problem!" Mew said.

"So I guess we'll be going. Thanks again," Jade said. Her hand reached up to touch her badge, but before we could teleport back to Sharpedo Bluff Mew stopped us.

"Wait! No! Before you go, I need to ask you something!" Mew cried frantically.

I lowered my hand. "What is it, Mew?" I asked.

"Well, see… I… um… See, while we were battling… well… My goal in life is to assess someone's strength. Only those with great strength can beat me, and I can tell you have great strength. And… so… um… I was wondering if… I could… join your team, perhaps?" Mew asked.

I didn't even have to consider the question. "You're in."

Mew squealed in delight and turned around in a circle, showering the ground with sparkles. "Thank you! Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!"

"Anyway, let's get going back to Sharpedo Bluff and tell those Federate Exploration Pokémon Team Guys about our success. Are you coming, Mew?" Jade asked.

"You bet I am!" Mew said happily.

And with our shiny new recruit in tow, we touched our badges and teleported back to Sharpedo Bluff for the night.

XxX

**Who said I had to stick with the storyline?**

**Yes, the Mew in this chapter is Shiny. Why? Well, Mew's my favoritePokémon, and it's always been my dream to get a Shiny one. (Alas, I've had no luck...) So the Mew Team Aura recruited is Shiny.**


	45. Chapter 44: Surrounded Sea

**A miracle has happened. My awesome geeky friend somehow managed to temporarily fix my flash drive. I just had enough time to copy them onto a more stable hard drive before my flash drive broke again.**

**If you don't understand a word that I just said, let me sum it up for you: MY FRIEND RESCUED THIS STORY.**

**So now I won't have to rewrite it. Yay.**

**Anyway, I'm not here to talk about my broken flash drive, now, am I? I'm here to present to you the next chapter. Enjoy! :)**

Chapter 44: Surrounded Sea

Three days after our Blizzard Island excursion, we decided to visit everyone at the guild.

"It's been a while since we've been there, and I'm kinda missing them," Jade said.

"Good point," I said.

We walked up to Wigglytuff's Guild and went in. I was reminded of the first time that we had walked into the guild, back when I had just woken up as a Riolu. Back then, I had no idea that Jade and I would grow up to save the world.

We got down to the first sublevel and was greeted by an exhausted looking Corphish.

"Hey, Team Aura," he said.

"What's been going on with you guys?" Jade asked.

"Well, Sunflora's down on the second sublevel… She claims to have found some new dungeon… She keeps going on about the ocean, and vast treasure… You might wanna check it out, hey hey," Corphish breathed.

"Okay, then," Jade said.

We went down to the second sublevel and were nearly knocked over by a very hyper Sunflora.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!" she cried. She accidentally ran headfirst into a wall and staggered backwards. "Oh my gosh…" she muttered. Sunflora turned around in a circle and collapsed from dizziness.

"Sunflora, what's up? Why are you all in a tizzy?" I asked as I helped her up.

"T-treasure… Lots of treasure…" Sunflora muttered.

"Sunflora?" Jade asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Oh! Team Aura! You've come to visit us!" Sunflora said. She embraced us all in a big hug.

"What are you going on about?" I asked.

"Oh my gosh, it's wonderful! There's a place called Surrounded Sea, just off the coast of Blizzard Island. The ocean's currents meet there, and the currents could bring in extremely rare and valuable treasure!" Sunflora said breathlessly.

"Ooh, treasure? Sounds awesome!" Jade said.

"No kidding! Maybe you should go there!" Sunflora said.

"Well, I think I know what we're doing today," Jade said with a smile.

"Tell me when you bring back the treasure!" Sunflora said. Then she went back to her "Oh my gosh" fit.

"Do you wanna go to Surrounded Sea?" I asked.

"Sure! Let's bring back all the treasure there!" Jade said.

We picked out a few jobs on the Job board for later and got Sparky and Ani-Chan from Spinda's Café. Then we went down to the beach and told Lapras about our plan for the day.

"Surrounded Sea? I know where that place is," he said. "The currents are very strong there, however. You might get swept away."

"Don't worry about us," Jade said. "We just wanna get treasure!"

"If you say so," Lapras said.

For the second time in one week, we were sailing away on Lapras's back. I noticed that the waters were choppier than usual. Occasionally a wave would wash over Lapras, and we'd get all wet. But Lapras persevered through the rough waters.

In a few hours we arrived at a large sandbar in the middle of the ocean. Lapras claimed that we were at our destination, but it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere instead of in Surrounded Sea.

"This is it? This is Surrounded Sea?" Jade asked.

"I keep telling you, this is Surrounded Sea! I know where I'm going! If you don't believe me, take out your Wonder Map!" I had never seen Lapras this agitated.

I took out our Wonder Map and saw a tiny yellow dot in the middle of a large whirlpool. "Is this whirlpool Surrounded Sea?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm telling you, we're at Surrounded Sea!" Lapras insisted.

"Okay, I belie—Look out, Sparky!" Jade cried suddenly.

A Shellder was trying to sneak up on Sparky. The Elekid whirled around, and faster than you could say "clam", he zapped it right out of the water.

"What was I supposed to look out for? That runt?" Sparky asked.

"Shellder are native to Surrounded Sea. So you're in the right place," Lapras said, grinning like he'd just proved someone's point wrong.

"Okay. I'll take your word for it," Jade said.

"Come find me when you're ready to go back, okay?" Lapras said.

"Alright. Let's go, team," I said.

We set off into Surrounded Sea.

Surrounded Sea was a very strange place. The water there was shallow, only coming up to our feet. At some points, the water was too deep for us to walk in. These deep points served as the walls in the dungeon.

Soon we found the stairs. I apprehensively led the team down them. I expected the stairs to lead us underwater, but instead, we appeared in a strange underwater cavern of sorts. There was still water and smooth sand at our feet, but all around us were sandy walls that kept water out.

"Whoa. This is weird," Jade said.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. As long as we don't drown, I'm fine," I said.

Jade was strangely quiet from then on.

We found the stairs to the next floor, and we found ourselves in a deeper part of the cavern. My fears of drowning evaporated. We'd be safe here. No need to worry.

The first Pokémon we found was a six foot tall whale called Wailmer. Despite its size, it was easily defeated by Jade's Energy Ball.

Another strange Pokémon was Kingdra, a seahorse that was apparently half Dragon type. Jade and Sparky had to combine efforts to defeat the Kingdra.

On the eighth floor we ran into a Monster House and found that we didn't have a Spurn Orb or even a Petrify Orb. I was just about to call a retreat when Sparky stepped up and offered to take care of all the Pokémon.

"But I don't want you to get hurt…" I said.

"Chillax, Emile. I've got this." Sparky stepped forward before I could stop him.

Sparky began to charge up electricity. After a second of charging, he released several streams of electricity that homed in on our adversaries.

Once the lightning vanished, I looked at the room and was quite surprised to see that the vast majority of the enemies in it had fainted. Only a Kingdra was left.

Sparky took care of the Pokémon, and we continued on our undersea adventure.

On the thirteenth floor, I found what looked like a very large blue jelly bean. I had no idea what it was, but out of curiosity I picked it up. Later that floor we found another one. I picked it up, and I couldn't resist popping it in my mouth to see what it tasted like.

The blue jelly bean was very sweet, with just a hint of saltiness. It reminded me of the vast ocean around us. I liked it and wanted to eat another one, but I had just enough control to restrain myself.

Jade, Ani-Chan, and Sparky had a very easy time going through the dungeon. I was okay, I mean, I could get rid of Psychic type Slowbros relatively easily with Bite, but I was nowhere near as effective as Jade.

The twentieth floor had no enemies, but rather three sparkling treasure boxes, a partially transparent egg-shaped thing, and a Warp Trap.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Ooh! Treasure! Treasure!" Ani-Chan said, running up to a box.

"Treasure? Oh! That's so cool!" Jade said as she too examined the boxes. "Let's take these home! We'll open them there!"

"Hey… What's this?" I asked, walking over to the egg. It was different from any egg that I'd ever seen before. It was an opaque blue with tiny yellow dots around the top. A red sphere rested inside it.

I picked up the egg. It was very squishy, and I had to take extra care to not crush it.

"Hey! Be careful with Eggy-Poo!" Jade cried.

"'Eggy-Poo?'" I asked.

"Shut up. Don't judge me," Jade muttered.

"Okay, I'm sorry. How about you carry 'Eggy-Poo' out of this place?" I suggested.

"Yay! Thank you!" Jade squealed. She snatched the egg from my hands and began to talk all cutesy to it. "Oh, don't worry, Eggy-Poo. Mommy's got you. It's okay… It's okay…"

"Jade? I know you love it, but can you tone down on the 'you're so cute'?" I asked carefully.

"Oh, I see. You don't like Eggy-Poo. We'll show him," Jade said to the egg.

I just decided to let the matter drop. I let Jade take care of Eggy-Poo while I picked up the three sparkling treasure chests. I was just wondering what was in the chests when Ani-Chan called us over to the Warp Trap.

"I think this is the way out!" Ani-Chan said.

"A Warp Trap? No way," Sparky said defiantly.

"No, I think Ani-Chan's right. This is probably the way out," I said confidently.

"Well, I guess I'll take your word for it, Emile," Jade said.

Jade clutched my hand, and after a brief moment, we stepped on to the Warp Trap.

The next thing I knew, we were standing on the sandbar that was the first floor of Surrounded Sea. Lapras was waiting for us, just as he had promised.

"Hey Lapras. Can you hurry up and take us back? I want to get back to the mainland by nightfall," I said.

"Sure thing. Just hop on my back," Lapras said with a smile.

The four of us climbed on to Lapras' back and got comfortable for the ride ahead. Once we set sail, I decided to tell Lapras about our journey.

Jade eventually showed him the mysterious egg. Lapras said that it would be best to take care of the egg ourselves.

"Don't mess around with any of that tomfoolery at the Chansey Day Care. It might damage the egg. Just take care of it yourselves," Lapras suggested. "Oh, and I think you can get those treasure boxes opened at Xatu Appraisal. It's just by the Kecleon Shop."

Another hour, and we were at the beach. The sun was slowly sinking below the ocean and making the sky turn crimson.

We bid farewell to Ani-Chan and Sparky and began to make our way to Xatu Appraisal.

Xatu was at his small shop and was willing to open the boxes with his psychic powers… for a 150 Poké fee, of course.

We paid the money, and Xatu opened our first box. Nestled inside the box was three very useful Reviver Seeds. He opened another box, and in it was three more Seeds. The third box contained, you guessed it, three more Seeds. We thanked Xatu for his service and went to the Bluff to prepare for the night.

Jade insisted on making a bed for Eggy-Poo with the straw in one of the barrels. I thought that was kind of silly, but I wasn't one to argue. So we spent about an hour making a straw bed for the egg.

By the time we were finished making Eggy-Poo's bed, night had fallen. I was getting tired, and I could tell Jade was as well. So I bid Jade goodnight and stumbled over to bed, thinking of nothing but sleep.

XxX

"Caw! Caw!" The sound of many passing Wingulls brought me out of my slumber. Jade, who had fallen asleep right by the egg, also woke up.

"Good morning, Emile," she said tiredly.

"Good morning, Jade," I said.

"I stayed with Eggy-Poo the whole night, but he won't hatch! I want him to hatch soon!" Jade griped.

"We just need to give it time, that's all. I'm sure it will hatch someday," I said.

"Yeah, but when? In a few days? In a few weeks? In a few months?" Jade asked.

"I really don't—" Before I could continue, the egg wobbled slightly.

Jade gasped. "E…Eggy-Poo?" she said weakly.

The egg wobbled again, this time more violently. Jade and I backed up a few steps as the egg continued to shake.

"Eggy-Poo! You're hatching!" Jade cried. Fractures appeared all over the egg. The fractures began to web all over the egg…

There was a mighty _CRACK!_ A brilliant light expanded from the egg. I averted my eyes…

When the light cleared, the egg was gone. In its place was a small fairy-like creature that highly resembled the egg in many ways. Its body was mainly blue. The skin around its closed eyes was yellow. On its chest was a shiny red gem.

Two "antenna" were in its head. Its arms were long, and its feet were short. But as it turned out, it didn't need the feet, though, as it hovered a few inches off the ground.

"Hey there, little guy," Jade ventured cautiously. She approached it apprehensively and was about to touch it when the creature's eyes flew open, revealing dark blue irises.

"Oh! Emile, look at it! He's so adorable!" Jade gasped.

I approached the newborn Pokémon. "Hi there. How's it going?"

The Pokémon blinked in confusion. _Oh, right. I don't think it understands us… How will we communicate with it? _I thought.

The Pokémon looked around our room in confusion. "H… Hi?" it squeaked after taking in its surroundings.

"So cute!" Jade squealed.

"C… Cu… Cute?" the Pokémon repeated.

"D'aww… I love him already!" Jade said.

"I agree… He's real cute, but we don't know who he is," I said.

"Wait… Hold on, Emile. Are you saying…?" Jade said, a dangerous edge in her voice.

"No! No! I'm not saying we should let it go, Jade! Seriously! I don't want to let it go, either! I'm saying we should go find out who it is," I said quickly.

"But how? Do we just go around Treasure Town asking random Pokémon about this guy?" Jade said.

"No. We'll only have to ask one Pokémon."

"Who?"

"I think you know who."

XxX

Chatot was down at the guild, observing everyone doing their jobs as usual. He had to rub his eyes when we approached him with the mysterious Pokémon.

"Is that a…" he said with bated breath.

"A what?" I asked.

"Oh… nothing. So what brings you here?" Chatot asked.

"Well, yesterday, we found an egg in a place called Surrounded Sea… We took it home, and it hatched into this little fella… Do you know what it is?" I summed up.

Chatot considered it for a moment. I found it amazing that he could think, as the Pokémon was now dancing around Chatot and saying nonsensical things. I sure wasn't able to think.

After a minute of thinking, Chatot nodded. "I think this Pokémon is called Manaphy," he declared.

"Manaphy?" I asked.

"Ma… na… Mana-phy?" Manaphy repeated.

"Yes. Manaphy is an extremely rare Pokémon… It's a legendary Pokémon, not unlike Dialga and Groudon," Chatot said.

"Cool! We found a rare Pokémon!" Jade said, giving Manaphy a hug.

"Yes, yes, congratulations, however, Manaphy are meant to grow up in the sea. If they were to grow up on land, they might get sick… or die," Chatot said sadly.

"Die?!" I cried.

"Si… Sick…?" Manaphy asked.

"Yes. It would be wise for you to release it into the wild," Chatot said carefully.

In that split second, Jade rushed at Chatot and tackled him down.

"_WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" _Jade growled. "_DID YOU JUST SAY RELEASE MANAPHY INTO THE WILD?!_"

"Y-yes… It would be best for him… He might die if he stays here for too long…" Chatot grunted.

"_NO! NO! NO! WE! ARE! NOT! GONNA! LET! MANAPHY! GO!"_ Jade shrieked. Manaphy cowered behind me.

"J…Jade…" he squeaked. I looked at Manaphy in shock.

"You know our names?" I whispered. Manaphy nodded.

_He hasn't even been alive for one hour, and he knows our names already? He's grown up so fast…_

"Jade… Stop Jade!" It was the most Manaphy had said since he'd hatched.

"JADE!" I screamed.

Jade stopped. She was about to use SolarBeam on Chatot, but before she could fire her laser, she stopped and looked at me. Then she looked at Manaphy, and all her anger faded.

"Oh, Manaphy… I'm so sorry…" Jade said, racing up to the Water type and squeezing him in a tight hug.

"J-Jade… Bad Jade! Bad!" Manaphy said angrily.

"Manaphy… I'm sorry for being bad… But don't worry! It's over! I'm not being bad!" Jade said with a smile.

I guess she expected Manaphy to cheer up. But instead Manaphy began to cry.

"Wah… W-w-waaaaah!" Manaphy cried as tears slid down his face.

"N-no! Manaphy!" Jade said. She gave Manaphy a big hug and apologized to him, but he continued to sob.

"Was it something I said?" Jade said meekly.

"No… I think Manaphy's hungry," Chatot said calmly.

"Hungry?" I repeated.

"At least, I think that he's hungry," Chatot said. "He was just born, after all."

"Okay. We'll feed him. So do you have any idea what Manaphy might like to eat?" Jade asked.

"I think he might like Gummies," Chatot said.

"Gummies?" I asked.

Jade slapped her forehead. "Idiot," she muttered under her breath.

"Gummies are chewy candies that you can find in dungeons or at the Kecleon Shop. They come in all different colors and flavors, and each Pokémon likes a certain kind of Gummi. Emile, I would think you'd like Brown Gummies best. Jade, you'll probably like Grass Gummies," Chatot explained.

"Cool. Now, do you know which Gummi Manaphy might like?" Jade said impatiently.

"I believe that Manaphy might like Blue Gummies, since he's a Water type. Water types like Blue Gummies," Chatot said.

"Great. I don't think we have any Blue Gummies…" I said.

Jade sighed. "You're so stupid…"

"I am? Why?" I asked.

"Yesterday in Surrounded Sea you found a few blue 'jelly beans', didn't you?" Jade said.

"Those are Gummies? Why didn't you tell me?" I said.

"I thought that you already knew!"

"But I didn't!"

"You know what? Let's both shut up and give Manaphy the Gummi. Does that sound like a plan?" Jade suggested.

"Yeah. You're right." I turned to the crying infant and gently stroked its cheek. "Don't worry, Manaphy… It's okay…"

I unbuttoned a side pocket of my Explorer Bag, grabbed one of the jelly beans in there and presented it to Manaphy. "Look! Manaphy! I have a treat for you!"

Manaphy stopped crying and examined the Gummi I held in my hand. "T… treat?" he asked.

"Yep! A Blue Gummi, just for you!" Jade said.

"G… g…" Manaphy struggled to say the word.

"It's a Gummi. G-u-m-m-i," Jade enunciated.

"G… Goomi?" Manaphy repeated. Jade and I burst into laughter.

"Uh huh! A Blue Goomi!" I giggled.

Manaphy grabbed the "Goomi" from my hand and scarfed it down, making loud noises of enjoyment as he ate. After a minute, the Blue Gummi was history.

"Goomi! Goomi! Yay! Yay! Yay!" Manaphy said. He hovered around Jade and I, cheering "Goomi! Goomi!"

"See, Chatot? We can take care of him! Just for a few days? Please?" Jade begged.

Chatot looked at Manaphy. Then he looked at me. Then he looked at Jade, and once he saw the murderous look on her face, he quickly said "Yes! Yes! You can keep Manaphy!"

"Yay! Thanks, Chatot!" Jade said airily, as if nothing was wrong.

"Keep… me?" Manaphy asked.

"Yep! We're gonna watch over you for a little while! Won't that be fun?" Jade said, rubbing Manaphy on the head.

"E-Emile… Jade…" Manaphy stuttered.

"Yep. That's us!" I said.

Manaphy's face broke into a grin, and it was quite hard to believe that he had been bawling his eyes out only a moment earlier.

"I'm warning you, he's your responsibility, not mine. And you do know that you'll eventually have to let Manaphy go, right?" Chatot warned. But we were already going back to Sharpedo Bluff with Manaphy in tow.

XxX

**I know that the treasure chests from Surrounded Sea have one Reviver Seed, but I can change it if I want.**

**On a completely unrelated note, who here is _stoked_ for X and Y's release? I know I am! I'm getting X, (#teamxerneas) which one are you getting?**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned: on X and Y's release date, I'll update again. But until then, happy writing.**


	46. Chapter 45: Miracle Sea

**ER. MAH. GERD.**

**POKÉMON X AND Y ARE FINALLY OUT! W00T!**

**Yes! After a whole YEAR of waiting, Pokémon X andPokémon Y have been released. YES! *obsessed fangirl squeal***

**But unfortunately, not everything is happy. Heck, we've got a sad chapter coming up here... But anyway, I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 45: Miracle Sea

The next few days were some of the happiest days that I'd had since my accident. Manaphy would wake us up early in the morning and insist that we go on a stroll with him. We'd usually visit the Kecleon Shop and see if he had any Blue "Goomis".

From there, we'd usually go down to the beach and eat apples and Gummies there. Manaphy was fascinated by the beautiful rippling waters of the ocean, and I liked swimming (I'm not sure Jade felt the same way, though) so it all worked out good for (almost) all of us.

After our picnic, we'd usually play in the water with Manaphy. (Jade didn't want Manaphy to stray too far from the beach, despite Manaphy constantly begging us) He loved the water, which made sense, as he was a Water type. After that we'd have some downtime on the beach. Jade and I would relax and talk, and Manaphy would make tiny mountains and hills out of the wet sand.

We'd return to Sharpedo Bluff when it got dark. We'd ease Manaphy into his bed of straw and tell him a bedtime story. Jade and I would stay up for a little longer once Manaphy was asleep, but once we got tired, it was lights out for us as well.

Manaphy was very energetic, and as such, he tired us out really quickly. But honestly, I didn't mind Manaphy's energy. If I could hike up a tower that is collapsing with every step I take, then I could take care of an energetic newborn.

About a week and a half after Manaphy hatched, I noticed that the Seafaring Pokémon was acting a little… odd. He seemed a lot less energetic than usual, and instead of playing in the water on the beach, he just stared out at it. Once we turned in for the night, he silently hovered over to his bed and crashed. He didn't even insist on a bedtime story.

"Um… Manaphy?" I asked. But he was already snoring.

"Weird… Manaphy hasn't been himself lately… I wonder what's going on?" Jade said.

"I have no idea. Maybe he's just tired. All that playing in the ocean's made me exhausted!" I said.

"Yeah. That's probably what's up." Jade let loose a huge yawn. "Speaking of exhausted, I'm pretty tired as well. How about we turn in for the night?"

"Good idea." I sat down on my bed, stretched, and yawned. "Good night, Jade."

"Good night, Emile."

I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes. Sleep soon followed.

XxX

"MANAPHY!"

I was jolted up from my sleep by Jade shrieking at the top of her lungs.

_Why is she yelling at Manaphy? Did he do something bad? _I thought groggily.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at Jade. She didn't seem angry, though. She seemed frightened.

"Jade? What's up with Manaphy?" I asked.

"H-he's… GONE! Manaphy's gone!" Jade cried.

All my sleepiness melted away. My heart began to race. My mind could only form one clear thought: _Manaphy is missing._

Jade looked around the inside of the Bluff, but she couldn't find Manaphy anywhere. When she realized this, she crumpled to the floor and began to cry. "Oh no… Manaphy's gone…" she moaned.

I rested my hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Jade…"

"No!" Jade screamed, shoving my hand away. "Don't tell me it's okay! It's not okay! Manaphy's gone! That's not okay! What if he wanders into a dungeon? What if he gets lost or trapped? What if he runs into an outlaw? _Then _will it be okay?!"

"Jade, just listen to me—"

"No! If you're just gonna say it's okay, it's not!" Jade snapped.

"Just listen to me—"

"No!" Jade stormed out of the Bluff in a fit of sadness and anger. I followed her.

Jade was outside the Bluff, looking in the nearby bushes for Manaphy. Once she found that Manaphy wasn't in the bushes, she screamed and began to run to Treasure Town, but she didn't get very far before she ran into Chatot.

"My, my! What's the matter with you two?" Chatot said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"It's about Manaphy," I began.

"Oh! Manaphy! I was coming here to check on him. How's he doing?" Chatot asked lightly.

"Well, today, we woke up, and he was missing. So… yeah," I said.

Chatot gasped and switched into lecture mode. "This is what I was worried about! Manaphy is meant to grow up in the ocean! If you keep him on land for too long, something like this will happen! Oh, I warned you, but did you take my advice? No! You completely ignored me…"

"Go look for him at the guild. We'll check the beach," Jade interrupted.

Before Chatot could continue lecturing us about how irresponsible we were while taking care of Manaphy, we bolted to the beach.

Lapras was waiting on the beach with a worried expression on his face.

"Lapras? Did you see a small blue Pokémon anywhere here?" I asked urgently.

"Yes. He's over there," Lapras said, nodding over to a small blue blob slowly drifting out over the sea.

"That's him," Jade sighed in relief.

"Hey! Manaphy!" I called out him.

He turned around, and with a confused frown in our direction, he began to slowly hover back to us. It was slow going, and with each passing minute I could tell Jade was getting more and more worried.

_What if Manaphy got injured? What if something bad happened to him while he was gone? If anything like that happened, Jade would be crushed…_

Manaphy was hovering over the shallow waters of the beach now. I noticed a very blank expression on his face and a misty look in his eyes.

Right away, I knew there was something wrong with Manaphy. I couldn't bring myself to tell Jade about it, though.

"Manaphy!" Jade squealed. She raced into the shallow water, plucked Manaphy out of the air, and pinched his cheeks affectionately. "We were so worried about you! Are you okay?"

"I… I…" Manaphy suddenly stopped moving. His eyes widened in pain and then squeezed shut in pain, and he drifted down into the sea.

"M-Manaphy!" Jade cried. She grabbed his body out of the water and slowly dragged it to the shore. Once she reached the sandy beach, she gently set Manaphy down and put her hand over his chest to check if his heart was beating.

"Is he okay?" I asked with bated breath.

"His heart's beating, but he's burning up! He's got a real mean fever…" Jade pronounced. A tear silently slid down her face. "I… I told you! Something bad would happen to him if he wandered off on his own!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll find a cure and he'll be better," I said, though I didn't really believe my words.

"But what if he's got some incurable disease?" Jade asked.

"Don't think negative," I said simply. "Manaphy will be fine, but we need to get him to Sharpedo Bluff _now_."

Jade gently stroked Manaphy's cheek and wiped away a tear from her face. "Don't worry, Eggy-Poo… You'll be fine…"

I grabbed Manaphy's lifeless body off the sand and recoiled at how hot he was. Jade was right; he was burning up. I tried to ignore Manaphy's extreme temperature and began to make my way up to Sharpedo Bluff.

XxX

Unfortunately for us, Chatot was waiting for us at Sharpedo Bluff.

"You two! Did you find Mana—Great Scott! What happened to him?" Chatot exclaimed when he saw Manaphy's unconscious body in my arms.

"I think he's sick," Jade said.

"But why?" I asked. "Did he have too many Gummies?"

"I think he's sick because he's spent too much time on land. Manaphy are meant to grow up in the sea, not on land, and if they spend too much time on land, they'll get sick," Chatot said.

I felt a pang of guild. Jade and I had insisted on keeping Manaphy on land. If we'd just listened to Chatot and let him go into the sea, none of this would've happened.

"Is there a way to cure him?" Jade whispered.

Chatot placed his wing on Manaphy's forehead. "I just don't know…" he admitted.

Jade's eyes began to water. "T-that means that we… basically… killed Manaphy, right? We took his egg out of Surrounded Sea and insisted on raising him here and—" Jade said frantically. She was about to go on when Chatot cried "Stop!"

"Why? We're murderers! We essentially killed him!" Jade choked through her sobs.

"No! I think remember a way to cure his disease!" Chatot said.

"R-really?" Jade said, sounding like she could barely believe him.

"Yes."

"How?" Jade asked.

"First you'll have to promise me that you'll release Manaphy once we cure him," Chatot said sternly.

"What?!" Jade and I cried.

"If you keep him on land for any longer, he could die! You need to let him go to the sea, where he belongs," Chatot said. He muttered something that vaguely sounded like "Please don't kill me…" under his breath.

_Chatot's got a point… If Manaphy stays on land any longer he might die… But Jade won't just let him go that easily… She'll be terribly sad to see Manaphy leave…_

Much to my surprise, Jade accepted Chatot's terms with no argument. "O…Okay, Chatot. J-just give us a little time to say goodbye to him once it's time…" Jade said gloomily.

"Very good. Now, there is supposedly a cure-all substance known as Phione Dew. Phione Dew can cure any ailment, no matter how terrible it is," Chatot explained. "Phione Dew is produced by Pokémon known as Phione. They are rather rare, like Manaphy, but it's been said that there is a large group of Phione living in a place called Miracle Sea."

"Miracle Sea? Gotcha! We'll be back in a jiffy!" Jade said before Chatot could continue his explanation. She grabbed my arm and dragged me up to the stairs.

"Watch over Manaphy!" I called to Chatot as Jade pulled me up the stairs.

"Okay!" He began to say something else, but Jade and I were already out of earshot.

We were at the beach with Ani-Chan and Sparky in a matter of moments. Lapras had been on the beach when the incident with Manaphy had happened, and he was willing to take us to Miracle Sea, which he also knew the location of. Soon we were sailing away on Lapras's back.

Lapras must've realized the urgency of the situation we were in, as he swam as fast as he could, even when the tide was against him.

After about an hour, Lapras began to slow down. A large cluster of sandy islands came into view. The water around us took on a sparkly quality, as if bits of gold dust had been sprinkled into the water. Lapras informed us that the cluster of islands was Miracle Sea.

Soon the sandy islands were right in front of us. Lapras "docked" on a larger island, let us off his back and gave us a quick guide of Miracle Sea.

Miracle Sea was—big surprise—a dungeon very similar to Surrounded Sea; the same Pokémon and the like. The Phione that produced the Phione Dew were at the deepest part of the dungeon. They were a little lofty, but they would probably be able to spare a little Phione Dew. Lapras would be ready to take us back once we got some Dew.

"Thanks for doing this for us, Lapras," I said.

"No problem, young one," Lapras said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, yes, let's just go now! Manaphy's in trouble, and you're just gonna sit around and talk? We need to get going!" Jade interrupted.

"You're right. Sit tight, Lapras. We'll be back in a jiffy," I said.

"Let's go!" Jade cried. She grabbed my arm, and we set off into Miracle Sea.

We started our adventure on the large island that Lapras had let us off at. It was crawling with a surprising number of Pokémon, but they all fell in one or two hits. The stairs to the next floor was on a tiny dot of an island that we had to swim to reach. It wasn't a long swim, but of course Jade had to make a big scene out of it.

Once we reached the stairs, we walked down it and found ourselves in a nearly identical area, with small islands, a vast ocean, and a blue sky. I didn't give it much thought. I'd been through weirder things than this.

On and on we went, mowing down Water type after Water type. All the while I thought about Manaphy and how much trouble he would be in if we failed.

After eighteen floors we ran into a rest point. We barely took a minute to rest before we set off into the lower part of Miracle Sea.

Deep Miracle Sea was practically the same as the first half. The water was a couple of inches deeper, and the sand on the islands was a little darker, but it was otherwise exactly the same.

After four quick floors, we reached what appeared to be the bottom of Miracle Sea. We were standing on a sandbar with a small ring of islands enclosing us. Shallow water splashed around at our feet.

Ahead of us was a small group of Pokémon that looked a lot like Manaphy. They were slightly bigger, and they didn't have the yellow features that Manaphy had. They were whispering to each other and giggling and having a good time.

"Could those be the Phione?" I whispered so as not to scare them away.

"I think so," Jade whispered back. "Go ask them about the Phione Dew!"

I cleared my throat and was about to reveal myself to the Phione when I noticed a dark serpent-like shape gliding around in the water.

My stomach churned uneasily. _Oh Arceus no… That can't be good…_

I opened my mouth to warn the Phione about the danger, but before I could, the dark shape exploded out of the water.

It was a huge, primarily blue sea serpent with a tannish underbelly and a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth. Its eyes were vicious and it looked more than capable of murder. I recognized the beast as a Gyarados.

"GRAAAHHHHH! Hello there, little Phione! From this moment on, I, Gyarados, now own you! All of you are now my servants!" Gyarados bellowed.

The Phione let out a wail of terror and scattered. Some of them dove into the water, while some hid behind rocks.

Right then, I felt something snap inside me. We'd come all this far… Taken down so many enemies, all in hope of finding the Phione who could cure Manaphy… All to have our one hope get chased away by a tyrannical sea serpent. Needless to say, I was angry. Incredibly angry.

"Hey! You!" I shouted up to Gyarados.

The Gyarados turned to me. "What's this? Someone has the insolence to challenge me?!"

I was thinking of something witty to say back at him, but something caught my eye. Next to me, Sparky appeared to be charging up electricity. Electric type attacks would surely take out the Gyarados.

Luckily for us, Gyarados didn't see Sparky. He kept his attention on me.

"Yeah! We'll challenge you to a battle if you don't leave _right now!_" I said bravely.

"GRAH! You challenge me? I assure you, you will LOSE!" Gyarados roared.

I looked at Sparky and saw that he was almost ready to launch his Electric attack. I nodded, and he nodded back. Sparky took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

"Are you quite sure?" I asked Gyarados calmly. I turned to the Elekid and screamed "Now! Attack!" at the top of my lungs.

Sparky leapt forward at Gyarados with a brave battle cry. His body became surrounded in sparking electricity that made the air around him crackle.

He made contact with Gyarados and sent electricity coursing through his body. Gyarados cried out in pain and began to lash about. It was quite the sight, seeing a huge sea serpent being electrified by something a fraction of its size.

Soon Gyarados succumbed to his wounds and fell back into the water. A low growl told me that he wasn't dead, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't be bothering the Phione any time soon. The dark shape glided out of view.

Sparky fell down from the empty air and crashed into a shallow pool of water. Jade and I rushed over to the Elekid to make sure he hadn't been injured.

"Are you okay?!" Jade cried as she helped Sparky up. He didn't look too bad; he had a few small cuts and a somewhat dazed look in his eyes, but he would survive.

Sparky's dazed look was suddenly replaced by a shaky smile. "That. Was. AWESOME!" he cried. "Man, I _totally_ decked that Gyarados! He was all like, 'Oh no, that little Elekid's gonna really hurt me! Oh no!'"

Sparky could've kept talking for hours, but at that moment a Phione poked its head above the water and examined us. After a brief moment, the Phione made a funny squeaking noise, and the rest of the Phione came out from hiding.

"Now's our chance to get the Dew. Jade, you and I will talk to them. Sparky, Ani-Chan, you just hang low. Oh, and try not to scare them, Sparky," I whispered in my best strategy voice.

Jade and I slowly approached the Phione, who were watching us carefully.

"Hey there, little Phione," I said cautiously.

"Don't worry, we're friends," I said with a smile.

"Hey, do you guys make Phione Dew?" Jade asked. The "lead" Phione nodded slowly.

_So far so good, _I thought, but it turns out it was a premature thought.

"So… Can we have some of this Phione Dew?" I asked.

The Phione gawked at me as if I'd just suggested something horrible.

_Oh no… If they don't give us the Dew, then Manaphy's as good as dead…_

I got down on my knees and clasped my hands together. "Please! Please! We really need some Phione Dew to help cure a friend of his illness! He could die if we don't give him the Dew! Please! We don't even need too much! _Please!_" I begged.

The Phione looked at us for a moment. Then they gathered up into a cluster and began talking with each other in high-pitched, squeaky voices.

Jade looked like she was going to cry. She shut her eyes tight and grimaced, obviously trying to hold back tears. "If they don't give us the Dew…" she muttered.

I placed a comforting hand on Jade's shoulder. "Hey, don't think so negative. You never know, the Phione might give us a little bit of Dew. We did save them from Gyarados after all," I said.

Right on cue, the lead Phione slowly approached us with a clear bottle in his hands. In the bottle was a small amount of bluish liquid that sparkled as I took it from the Pokémon.

"Is that Phione Dew?" I whispered. The Phione nodded.

I felt like I could hug the Phione. It had just given us the cure for Manaphy's illness, and if that isn't a good thing, then I don't know what is.

I turned around to face Jade, whose face was flushed with a mix of excitement and relief. When I held up the bottle of Phione Dew, she snatched it out of my hands and cradled it like a newborn baby.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! We got the Phione Dew! Thank you, Phione!" she cried as she pranced around in excitement. I stuck out my arm and stopped her after a while, though.

"It's not gonna cure Manaphy if we just sit around here and dance," I said sternly.

Jade's face turned red. "Oh. Yeah. Right." She thanked the Phione one last time before touching her badge and teleporting away. Sparky, Ani-Chan and I followed suit, and in an instant we were back on the surface.

Dusk was slowly blanketing the ocean around us when we got out of the dungeon. It made the water turn beautiful colors, but we didn't have time to admire the view. We raced up to Lapras, who had been waiting patiently for our return, and clambered onto his back. He began swimming back to the mainland at once.

We were back on the beach within the hour. Sparky and Ani-Chan bid us goodbye ("This seems like a personal thing and, well… we don't wanna ruin the moment.") Jade and I streaked up to Sharpedo Bluff where the ailing Manaphy laid.

Chatot had been monitoring Manaphy since we'd left. According to him, Manaphy's condition hadn't really changed. His temperature appeared to have gone up a little, and his breathing was ragged, but other than that he was just the same as when we'd left him.

"Now, if you would, may I have the Phione Dew?" Chatot asked. "I'm just going to feed it to him. The Dew will go into his system and hopefully expel his illness."

Jade didn't look too happy about the "hopefully" part, but she obligingly handed over the sparkling Phione Dew.

The next few minutes, we tensely watched Chatot drop the Dew into Manaphy's mouth, which was slightly open. When the drops of liquid hit his mouth, Manaphy stirred slightly, but he remained asleep.

That night was the longest night ever. Jade, Chatot and I couldn't sleep; we were too busy checking on Manaphy. I'd occasionally put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature, which was steadily going down as the hours passed. Manaphy's ragged breathing was calmed, and by daybreak, it was as if he had never had a fever in the first place.

At about nine in the morning, Manaphy's eyes fluttered open. He studied his surroundings for a moment, and when he saw us, he smiled a bright smile.

"Emile! Jade!" he said gleefully.

"Manaphy!" Jade cried. She sped toward Manaphy and cradled him in her tiny arms. Manaphy giggled, obviously enjoying the attention.

"Play!" Manaphy said, waving his arms around.

"You want to play?" Jade said. Manaphy nodded.

"I don't think it's entirely safe for him to play. I mean, he just recovered from a harsh fever. Oh, and you do know that you'll have to release him today, right?" I had completely forgotten that Mr. Birdbrain was with us. I had also forgotten that we'd have to release Manaphy today.

But to Jade's everlasting credit, she completely ignored Chatot.

"Play! Play!" Manaphy insisted.

"Okay, Manaphy! Let's go play!" Jade said.

And so we all exited the Bluff and went outside to play in the morning sun.

Jade and I had quite a bit of fun playing with the infant. I had trouble believing that Manaphy, who was as cheerful as ever now, had been on death's door only a day ago. Chatot was indeed right; the Phione Dew was truly a miracle substance. Someday we'd have to go back to Miracle Sea to thank the Phione for the Dew.

For several glorious, fun-filled hours, Jade and I played with the tireless Manaphy. He very tiring to watch over, but I didn't mind the nonstop energy that Manaphy had. In fact, I would've been quite content with playing with Manaphy until nightfall, however, just as dusk was settling down on us, Chatot made us stop.

"Aw, c'mon! Why do we have to stop now?" Jade whined.

"Well… I… I don't know how to say this, but…" Chatot muttered.

"Wait… Are you saying that we're gonna have to let Manaphy go now?" Jade said, a dangerous edge in her voice.

"Yes." Chatot saw the look on Jade's face and ruffled up his feathers nervously. "S-see, you committed to this, you know. You said that once Manaphy's illness was cured, you'd release him into the ocean!"

Before Jade could say anything else, I put in, "He's right, you know."

Jade gawked at me as if I'd betrayed her. "Emile! W-what are you SAYING?!"

"We agreed to Chatot's terms: we cure Manaphy, then we let him go. Remember?"

"B-but…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Manaphy hovering around impatiently with a look that plainly said "Stop talking and let's play!" I realized only then how much I'd miss Manaphy. I'd miss his nonstop energy, his fondness for "Goomis", his bright smile when we played at the beach…

_But we have to release him. I don't want him to fall ill again… And he deserves to grow up in the sea, I guess… _I thought.

"But surely he can't manage on his own! He'll need a guide or something!" Jade said, sounding a bit desperate.

"I have arranged a guide for Manaphy. Rest assured, he'll be in safe hands," Chatot assured us.

Jade took a deep breath and wiped a tear away from her face. "I… I… O-Okay. I guess you're right… Manaphy needs to grow up in the ocean, where he's meant to grow up…" She sounded crestfallen, though.

"Hey, Manaphy," I said, turning to the infant, who was bouncing with energy. "Let's go down to the beach."

"Beach! Beach! Fun! Yay! Fun beach!" he said, practically glowing with excitement.

"Yeah. Fun at the beach… Let's go," Jade said tremulously.

Jade, Chatot and I led Manaphy through Treasure Town. Very few Pokémon were out; the shops were all closed and the residents of Treasure Town were gone, preparing for the night. It was kind of sad; Manaphy's last sight of Treasure Town was a sight of a gloomy, deserted, completely closed-down village.

The walk out of town seemed to take ten times as long as usual. It felt like several hours had passed by the time we were at the beach, which was beautiful as ever.

On the beach was a Walrein, a very tough and powerful one by the surly look on its face. It almost appeared to be… waiting for us.

Then I realized that he was going to be the one to take Manaphy into the sea.

"Hello, Walrein," Chatot greeted.

"'Ello, Chatot," Walrein said, a sailor-like accent in his voice.

Manaphy hovered up to Walrein and greeted him cheerfully. He was still oblivious to the fact that Walrein would be taking him away from us.

"Yeh got the youngster?" Walrein asked gruffly.

"Yes," Chatot replied. Even he seemed to be a little sad.

Manaphy noticed the overall gloom and got quite confused. He hovered up to us and said "Sad? Why?" in his cute voice.

"I'm sorry, Manaphy," Jade said, desperately trying to keep her voice level, "but now… Now we have to say goodbye…"

"Good… bye?" Manaphy echoed.

"Yes… You're going to have to leave us now… You need to grow up in the sea," I said.

"L… leave?" Manaphy said.

I felt terribly sad, and I began to wonder if this is how Jade felt while I was being erased from existence: knowing that she probably wouldn't see me for a long time.

"Yes. I'm 'fraid yeh're gonna have teh come with me now," Walrein said. He reached a flipper out toward Manaphy, but he scooted away from it.

"But… Emile! Jade!" Manaphy said. He flew into Jade's arms and squeezed her tightly.

"Manaphy, I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to go with Walrein now," Jade said, hugging Manaphy one last time.

"Go? No! No go!" Manaphy had apparently known what the word "go" meant. He tried to get away from the bulky Walrein, but Walrein's surprising speed was too fast for Manaphy. Walrein grabbed the Seafaring Pokémon and imprisoned him in his tight grasp.

"N-no! Don't wanna go!" he cried.

"I'm sorry, Manaphy. I don' wanna do this, but I have teh…" Walrein apologized. He blinked, and I could see a single tear slowly tracing its way down Walrein's crinkly face.

"Grow up strong, okay, Manaphy?" Jade said shakily.

"We'll never forget you," I promised.

"No! No! Emile! Jade! Don't wanna go!" Manaphy said, struggling against the Walrein, who was slowly dragging him into the sea.

"We'll miss you, Manaphy!" I cried.

"Come back and see us, okay?" Jade said.

"Emile! Jade! Nooooo…" But then Manaphy and Walrein disappeared under the sea, leaving only a mass of bubbles behind.

"MANAPHY!" Jade cried, running out to the water. But it was too late. Manaphy was gone.

I took a deep breath and tried to hold in my tears. I knew that we'd have to let Manaphy go sometime, but I didn't know that it would hurt this bad to see him leave. I missed him already.

Jade returned to the shore and collapsed on the sand, her body racked with sobs.

"It's okay, Jade," I whispered. I helped her up off the ground and brushed away her tears. "Manaphy's in a better place now."

"I… I get it, but… Surely you're sad, right…?" Jade asked.

"Yeah. Of course I'm sad," I said.

"I'm sorry, you two. I simply had to do it," Chatot said solemnly.

"Oh, and one more thing?" Jade growled, stalking up to Chatot. Chatot trembled in fear.

Then Jade did something very surprising. She used Giga Drain.

"I hate you," Jade said coldly. Then she turned around and began to slowly walk back to the guild, tears streaming down her face.

XxX

**I wouldn't put it past Jade to use her moves on Chatot. Just saying.**

**And ASDFGHJKL I'M SO EXCITED FOR POKÉMON X AND Y! Sorry for the caps, (I'm starting to sound like Dialga now... LOL) but it's true!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this installment. Stay tuned for the next chapter, which will (hopefully) be happier than this one. Happy writing.**


	47. Chapter 46: Here Comes Team Charm!

**Hello! Sorry I haven't been updating in a while. I've been playing ****Pokémon**** X a lot. I've already got a shiny Psyduck and a shiny Woobat. It's really fun, and I'd really recommend it.**

**But I'm getting off topic. I shouldn't be talking about the new ****Pokémon**** games. I should be talking about the new chapter, and here it is. Enjoy.**

Chapter 46: Here Comes Team Charm!

That night, needless to say, was pretty miserable for us. Jade cried herself to sleep, but even after she was asleep, I stayed awake, thinking about Manaphy. Surely Manaphy was having a long night too. He probably missed us more than we missed him.

After a long, restless night, Jade woke up. I was surprised to see how pitiful she looked: the leaf on her head was bent, her eyes were bloodshot and weary, she had several scuffle marks on her body, and her face was still damp with tears… I had never seen her look this terrible.

"Good morning, Emile," she muttered, smoothing out her leaf.

"Hey, Jade… About last night… Are you still sad about Manaphy?" I asked.

"They say there's no such thing as a stupid question, but you just proved them false. Of course I'm still sad. Don't ask stupid questions like that," Jade mumbled.

"I'm still pretty sad too, but we can't worry about Manaphy now. He needs to grow up in the sea, where he belongs. It's for the best," I said carefully.

Jade's face twisted in fury. She opened her mouth to say something, but she apparently decided against it. Her face relaxed, and she slowly nodded. "You're right, as usual. We can't worry about him now. We have to worry about ourselves."

"That's the spirit," I said.

Jade looked down at her body and saw how terrible she looked. "My Arceus, I'm a mess. I'm gonna go clean up. Once I'm clean, we'll go to the guild and get a job. How's that sound?" Jade asked.

"Sounds good," I said.

She walked over to the small fountain in the corner and splashed some water onto her body, cleaning herself off. After she got cleaned up, she led the way out of Sharpedo Bluff.

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Jade and I took jobs, explored new areas, recruited a few new members (though none of them were as skilled as Ani-Chan and Sparky) and otherwise lived the normal life of an exploration team.

But I began to have… dreams at night. In my dreams I could see something moving in front of me, but it was too dark to see what it was. I could also hear a voice, but it was very faint and garbled, and I couldn't hear what it was saying. After about a week the dreams stopped, but I swore I could still hear the strange voice in my sleep.

One day, as Jade and I were going down to the guild to find another job, I noticed many Pokémon whispering to each other excitedly. As I passed by the Kecleon Shop, I heard the green Kecleon say something about "the legendary Team Charm".

"The 'legendary Team Charm'? Who are they?" Jade asked.

"I guess we're gonna have to find out," I said.

I walked up to Kecleon shop and cleared my throat. The Kecleons stopped talking to each other and greeted us.

"Hello, Team Aura! Here to buy more goods? We just got a shipment of fresh Rawst Berries! They're fifty percent off their original price!" the green Kecleon said in his salesperson voice.

"No," Jade said, "but we do want to ask you something."

"Go right ahead!" the purple Kecleon said warmly.

"Who's this 'Team Charm' you're talking about?" I asked.

"Team Charm? Why, they're only one of the most famous teams in the country!" I could almost see the hearts in their eyes as they spoke.

"They're an all-girl team—there hasn't been a single boy on their team! And they have one of the highest ranks an exploration team can have—they've got the Master rank!" the purple Kecleon said dreamily.

The Master rank seemed like an impossibility to Jade and I; we were only at the Super Rank. Surely you'd expect us to be at a higher rank, I mean, we did save the world.

I was about to ask more about Team Charm, but then the Kecleons started to incomprehensively blabber on about nothing in particular. I couldn't make sense of what they were saying, so Jade and I decided to go up to the guild and find a job.

As soon as we entered the guild, I could tell something was wrong. No one was on the first sublevel, not even Chimecho, who rarely strayed from the Chimecho Assembly desk. That was certainly mysterious.

Even more mysterious was the unusual amount of talking coming from the second sublevel. It seemed like the entire guild was on the second floor, and if I listened carefully enough, I could indeed hear the familiar voices of all our guild members.

"What could be going on?" Jade wondered.

"There's only one way to find out," I said.

Jade and I clambered down the ladders and emerged into absolute chaos. All the members of the guild were mobbing around three Pokémon. It was chaos: Sunflora and Chimecho were fighting, Diglett was complaining to Dugtrio about something, and Loudred, Bidoof, Croagunk, and Corphish were staring at the Pokémon, which I couldn't see clearly.

Chatot let out a huge squawk and was spit out of the mob, landing right next to Jade and I as if he'd been thrown. Chatot got up, rubbed his beak, and muttered something about Team Charm having way too many obnoxious fangirls.

_Wait… Team Charm? Aren't they the super legendary exploration team that Kecleon mentioned earlier? _I thought.

"What did you say?" Jade asked.

"I said that Team Charm has even more fans than—Oh! Team Aura! Coming for a visit, are you?" Chatot said, regaining his quirky smile. "Well, I'm quite sorry about this mess. See, Team Charm came here to visit, and—"

"Team Charm has come to visit?" Jade asked.

"Yep. See for yourself." Chatot gestured to the Pokémon with his wing.

A gap appeared in the crowd, and I could see the Pokémon clearly.

In the middle of the group was a Lopunny with long ears with bits of fluff at the ends. She caught my eye, smiled, and winked, and my mind went completely blank, leaving only a single thought in my head: _Oh my Arceus, she's gorgeous._

On her right was an equally gorgeous green Gardevoir. Gardevoir was smiling brightly at Bidoof, who looked about ready to faint from sheer happiness. Loudred, who was also gawking at Gardevoir, suddenly pushed past Bidoof and shoved a pen and a piece of paper into Gardevoir's hands, practically begging for an autograph.

On Lopunny's left was a Medicham. I wasn't very fond of Medichams, but this Medicham was an exception. She looked as if she was dancing, twirling around, moving her arms gracefully about, and the like. She had entranced Diglett and Corphish with her smooth dancing.

"See? Aren't they just wonderful?" Chatot said.

I barely nodded my head yes; I was too entranced with their beauty.

I don't know how long I stared at them, but eventually Jade kicked me in the knee. "You idiot. _I'm _your girlfriend, not them!" she hissed.

"Okay! Okay!" I raised my hands defensively.

Before Jade and I could talk more, Wigglytuff appeared from his room. His face lit up when he saw Team Charm.

"Why, hello there, Wigglytuff!" Lopunny said. Her voice was like a chorus of angels. I was going to drift off into la-la land again, but Jade's sharp glance snapped me out of it.

"Friendly friends!" Wigglytuff greeted the trio.

"It's been so long! How are you doing?" Gardevoir asked.

Loudred made a strangled sound. "WHAT? Wigglytuff? You KNOW TEAM CHARM?!"

"Oh, yeah! We used to explore all the time! He was a real good explorer, too!" Medicham said. "He just blasted away his enemies with a good ol' 'Yoom tah!'"

"So what's been going on with you, Wigglytuff?" Gardevoir asked.

"Nothing really. We've just been managing the guild for a while," Wigglytuff replied.

"Just been managing the guild? Stop kidding with us! I heard that you've been training an exploration team that's saved the world!" Medicham said.

"Oh yeah! Team Aura!" Wigglytuff waddled up to Jade and I and steered us to the front of the crowd. It was kind of nerve-wracking to stand in front of all the guild members and a Master rank exploration team. But I took a deep breath and gave the crowd a confident smile.

Lopunny smiled, and I felt my mind go blank again. Her smile was just so dreamy!

"My, my. You two sure are cute," Lopunny said.

"Duuuuuuh…" I muttered stupidly.

"Thank you," Jade said sharply, snapping me out of my spell.

"Anyway, what brings you here?" Wigglytuff asked.

"Well… We kind of need to ask you something," Gardevoir said.

"Do you remember those sealed ruins we were looking for a while ago? Well, we found them at last! But to open them, we need that key we trusted you with," Lopunny said.

_Sealed ruins? A key? What are they talking about…?_

"So… Do you still have that key, by any chance?" Gardevoir asked.

Wigglytuff considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "Key? I don't know what you're talking about. Sorry."

Medicham was enraged. "WHAT?! We gave you that key for a reason! We thought you'd protect it! But no, you _had _to go and lose it!"

"Medicham, calm down," Gardevoir said calmly, placing a hand on Medicham's shoulder.

"But he lost it! And now we can't explore the ruins!" Medicham growled.

"Are you quite sure he lost it? Because I believe I have something that might jog is memory." Lopunny reached into her large leather sash and rummaged around in it for a while. After a minute she smiled and triumphantly pulled out a shiny red apple. A Perfect Apple.

Wigglytuff stared at the apple for about a millisecond. Then he raced forward and tried to snatch the Perfect Apple from Lopunny's hands. But Lopunny held it away from Wigglytuff.

"I won't give it to you unless you find the key!" Lopunny teased.

Wigglytuff gasped. "Oh! _That _key! I know what you're talking about! Be right back!" He waddled up to his chamber and went inside it.

"What's he…" Jade began. But before she could continue, a loud "YOOM TAH!" and a tremendous crash sounded from in the Guildmaster's chamber.

A few seconds later Wigglytuff emerged with a small red key in his hands. He presented it to Team Charm with a smile.

"That's the key! Great job, Wigglytuff!" Lopunny said.

"Now, about that Perfect Apple…" Wigglytuff said hungrily. A loud growl erupted from Wigglytuff's belly and he licked his lips.

"Here you are." Lopunny handed the hungry Wigglytuff the apple. He snatched it from the bunny and began devouring it noisily.

"Well, that's that," Medicham said, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Hey, Wigglytuff," Gardevoir said suddenly. "Do you want to come exploring with us, like the old times?"

But Wigglytuff was too preoccupied with eating his Perfect Apple.

Medicham blushed a little bit. "Well, I guess that's a no," she said, giggling airily.

Lopunny began to lead the team to the ladder up. "So! I guess we should get going to those ruins now. There's exploring to be done! See you later, Wigglytuff!"

Lopunny winked at me one last time, and I felt myself drift off again. But this time I felt as if I should impress her. So I did something incredibly stupid.

"Wait!" I surged forward to the departing team. "Can we come exploring with you?"

Jade sighed and shook her head. "Boys," she muttered under her breath.

Lopunny studied me. "Oh? You really want to explore with us?"

"Y-yeah!" I said.

Lopunny turned to her teammates and began to talk. After a moment of conferencing, Lopunny smiled. "Sure thing, sweetie pie! You can explore with us if you'd like!"

I was unspeakably happy that we were going exploring with a famous exploration team. Jade, even though she wasn't exactly happy with me being stupid in front of the whole guild, seemed pretty happy as well.

"We'll give you time to get ready. Once you're ready, come tell us. We'll be waiting outside of Treasure Town. Once you're ready, we'll set off! Got it?" Lopunny reviewed.

"Okay!" Jade and I chorused.

I grabbed Jade's arm and dragged her up the ladder to Treasure Town to prepare for our expedition with Team Charm.

XxX

**Get ready for the most monotonous chapter yet...**


	48. Chapter 47: Aegis Cave

**Repetitive dungeon is repetitive. Just sayin'.**

Chapter 47: Aegis Cave

We darted out of Wigglytuff's Guild and made a beeline for the Kecleon Shop. We didn't know about what baddies awaited us at Aegis Cave, and so we decided to stock up on Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds. You can never be too sure.

We rounded up Sparky (who was gawking at Team Charm like an idiot) and Ani-Chan, and we were all ready for our expedition.

And without further ado, we set off to discover the treasure of Aegis Cave.

Soon we reached a cave with several crumbling pillars outside it. A large door with a tiny keyhole blocked the entrance to the cave. On the door was a series of strange symbols that I had only seen once before: in the Hidden Land.

_ "__What's up with this weird pattern?"_

_ "__Those are Unown runes. Unown are Pokémon that are shaped like letters."_

I couldn't read what the runes said, but for some reason, the runes looked very similar to something else…

"So I'd assume that we have to use the key to unlock the door," Jade said.

"You're smart, aren't you? Of course we do," I smirked.

Lopunny grabbed the red key from her Explorer Bag, stuck it in the lock, and twisted it. With a mighty groan, the doors creaked open.

Lopunny turned to us and smiled her dazzling smile. "Well? What are we waiting for? Shall we go in?"

"Yep!" Jade bolted from my side and disappeared into the cave. Team Charm and I followed.

Just as we walked through the mouth of the cave, the huge doors behind us slammed shut with a great force that made dust trickle down from the ceiling. We were stuck here until we found a way out.

I expected to walk straight in to a dungeon like we usually did when we encountered a cave. But instead we walked in to a waypoint that smelled very old. A few puddles of water and a dusty Kangaskhan Rock sat in the room. Next to the Kangaskhan Rock was a stone tablet that Jade was examining carefully. Ahead of us was a huge dark void; probably the entrance to the real dungeon.

"Hey, Jade," I said, "what's that you're looking at?"

Jade stepped away from the tablet. "It's really confusing. I can't make heads or tails of it."

"What's it say, though?" I asked.

"See for yourself."

I stared at the tablet. It had some writing on it, but just as Jade said, it didn't make any sense. I recognized the writing as Unown runes, but I was terrible at reading Unown runes.

I felt a presence behind me, and when I turned around, I was greeted with Gardevoir towering over me. I yelped and nearly stumbled into the tablet, but Gardevoir helped me regain my footing.

"Hey, Gardevoir, do you know what this tablet thing says?" I asked.

"Let me see…" Gardevoir said. I obligingly stepped aside and let Gardevoir examine the runes.

For several minutes we were silent, watching Gardevoir stare at the stone. The only sounds was the squeak of some Pokémon deep in the cave—probably a Rattata or a Zubat—and Gardevoir's occasional musings of "I see…" or "Hmm…"

After a minute that seemed to take an hour, Gardevoir looked up at us with a triumphant grin. "I've got it!" she said.

"You do? What's it say?" Medicham asked.

"It says… 'If you wish to proceed… Close your eyes and submit… your proof…?" Gardevoir reported. "And under that it says 'ICE'…"

_Close your eyes and submit your proof? What proof?_

Gardevoir shrugged. "I have no idea what that means…"

All eyes fell on me. I scratched my head and shook my head. "I don't know, either."

"How about you close your eyes, Emile?" Jade suggested.

"Yeah, but what 'proof' do I need to submit?" I asked.

"I don't know. Just try closing your eyes in front of the tablet," Jade said.

I walked forward to the tablet, almost tripping over Lopunny's foot. That would've been embarrassing. Once I was in front of the tablet, I closed my eyes, leaving myself in eternal darkness.

I thought I felt my Explorer Bag heat up for a brief moment, but then I was sure I had imagined it. Nothing had happened. We were still stuck in the waypoint.

"It doesn't look like we're gonna get through as we are now," Jade said.

_You don't say, _I thought.

"Yeah… I guess we need some proof… Wait, you said it said 'ICE' under the 'submit your proof' part? Maybe we need an Ice type…?" I looked over at Ani-Chan and Sparky. Neither of them were Ice types.

Medicham walked over to the dark void. "Hey, how about we go on through this passage? It might be a dungeon with real treasure!" she suggested.

"That sounds simply splendid!" Lopunny said. "Oh! I have another idea! How about we do a little race? The first one to complete this dungeon is the winner! Does that sound good?"

Jade smiled and cracked her knuckles, her face determined to win. "Challenge accepted. I hope you're ready to lose."  
"It's on!" Medicham snarled.

"Anyway, good luck!" Lopunny said, winking.

"Duh… You too, miss Lopunny," Sparky muttered, turning a deep shade of pink.

"Snap out of it, dude," I said, giving Sparky a playful shake on the shoulder.

We watched as Team Charm made their way into the darkness ahead of us. Soon the trio was gone, swallowed up by the dark cave.

"So, shall we go?" Jade asked.

"Sure," I said. I took a moment to change my items at the dusty Kangaskhan Rock. Once I felt that we were ready, we set off into Aegis Cave.

The inhabitants of Aegis Cave were mostly Unown. I had never seen a real Unown before, but now I noticed that they did indeed resemble the Unown runes that I had seen many times.

The Unown came in many shapes and sizes, but they all were simple black lines (some were straight, some were curvy, some were squiggly…) with a single beady eye.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen Unowns before… I mean, I had seen Unown runes, but I couldn't help but think that I had seen them before I had seen the runes…

They proved to be little challenge; one use of Bite and they were history.

But something weird happened once I defeated an Unown. Its eye widened in pain and its body fell completely still. The Unown turned blue and shrunk, fractures slowly webbing across its body. It dropped to the ground, and when I examined the poor creature, I found that it had been turned to stone. It was a terrible way for someone to die, and I felt a tinge of remorse as I pocketed the petrified Unown.

This happened one more time while we explored the dungeon, and I have no problem in admitting that I was actually somewhat frightened as the defeated Unown slowly met its end. But luckily we didn't have to see that happen for too long, as three short floors later we found ourselves in another waypoint. It looked oddly familiar for some reason…

Then I realized that we had somehow looped back to our starting point.

Team Charm was in the waypoint, mulling over the stone slab with the Unown runes. They perked up when they heard us coming from behind.

"Why, hello, sweeties!" Lopunny greeted.

"Hey, Lopunny," I said.

"So you've also figured out the gimmick of this dungeon, huh? It just keeps looping you back here," Gardevoir said.

"Yeah…" I muttered gloomily. "So we're stuck in an endless loop with no way out. This is just great."

Gardevoir turned to the slab. "I think there is a way out, actually. I think it has something to do with the riddle on this slab."

"But we just can't figure it out!" Medicham griped, burying her face in her hands.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Medicham, we can't figure it out either!" Jade said jovially.

"Anyway, I guess we'll be going. See you later!" Lopunny gave me one of her gorgeous winks, and the trio disappeared again.

I took out one a petrified Unown and examined it closely. It was straight with a big eye in the middle. It was about six inches about six inches in length.

I took out the other petrified Unown. It had the singly beady eye, but other than that, it didn't look anything like the other Unown. It was mostly comprised of curved lines, and the curved lines appeared to be forming a sort of "O"…

I walked up to the slab and examined it carefully. I looked at the petrified Unown in my hand and then at the word "proceed"…

_That's it! Unowns are modeled after English writing! Why did I not notice that before? _I looked carefully at the stone, and yes, I could see all the individual letters.

_Wait… It says "ICE"… Does that mean that we have to gather 'I', 'C', and 'E' stones?_

"Jade, let's go back into the dungeon," I said abruptly.

"Why? We know it'll just loop us back here, so… there's really no point," Jade said.

I began to walk toward the dark passage ahead of us. "Just come with me. I think I've figured out the gimmick to this place."

We went through the dungeon again with little incident. I could now "read" the Unowns that we were facing, which was certainly helpful. By the time we got out of the dungeon, we had three more petrified Unowns: a "S", a "G", and a "Y". Unfortunately we didn't have the "C" and the "E" we needed to proceed.

The next run through we found another "I", an "O", an "H", and finally a "C".

_Now all we need is an "E"…_ I thought.

Two more runs later we finally found the "E" that we were looking for.

"Ah, finally! About dang time!" Jade said as the "E" Unown slowly cracked and turned to stone. "Now we can proceed!"

"Yeah, but we still need to get to the waypoint," I pointed out.

Turns out that wasn't a real big problem. We were on the third floor, so we just needed to find the stairs one more time. We found them, went down them, and once again emerged in the waypoint.

"So I guess we just hold out the stones and we'll be able to proceed?" I guessed.

"I guess so," Jade said.

"Alright, then." I grabbed the "I", "C", and "E" stones from my Explorer Bag and approached the stone tablet. "Wish me luck."

I closed my eyes and held out the stones, waiting to proceed. I felt the stones in my hands get hotter and glow so brightly that I could see the glow even when my eyes were closed. After a moment the glow faded, and I withdrew my hands to find the stones were gone. Ahead of us was an ancient stone staircase leading down.

"Whoa! That was, like, so cool!" Sparky enthused.

"A staircase! Should we go down it?" Ani-Chan asked.

"Sure!" Jade said. "Lead on, Emile!"

I led the way down the dusty old staircase, Jade, Sparky, and Ani-Chan following close behind.

After a short walk down the stairs, we entered a circular room with an icy blue statue at the far end. It had bright yellow eyes in the shape of a plus. It seemed like just a normal old statue to me, but in the Pokémon world, nothing was what it seemed.

An icy wind blew through this room, chilling me to the bone and giving my fur coat a layer of frost. I shook it off and yelled out to the open air "Hello? Is anyone here?"

I could've sworn I saw the statue's left arm move.

Jade grabbed my arm. "Emile? Did you see that?" she whispered, sounding slightly panicked.

The statue's other arm moved. I was sure I wasn't imagining it.

Jade gasped and fired off a Magical Leaf at the statue. The statue shuddered and hovered toward us, its yellow eyes glowing brightly.

"Who are you?" I asked boldly.

"I AM REGICE, GUARDIAN OF THE ICE CHAMBER." Its voice was dull and expressionless, and I was vaguely reminded of a robot. "IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED, YOU MUST PROVE YOUR STRENGTH."

I clenched my fists. "Bring it, Regice! Do your worst!"

Another icy wind blew through the room, and I was reminded of Blizzard Island and its freezing cold temperature. Regice began to slowly hover to us.

"Great. What have you gotten us into now, idiot," Jade grumbled.

But I wasn't really listening. I was charging up my Focus Punch.

I knew from our Blizzard Island adventure that Ice types were weak to my Fighting type moves. Add that weakness to the sheer power of Focus Punch and…

Regice summoned a few magical rocks and hit me with them, but they practically bounced off of me. He might as well have been throwing pebbles at me.

Finally Focus Punch was ready for deployment. With a fierce battle cry I punched Regice with every ounce of energy I had. Needless to say, it hurt him quite a bit.

Regice tumbled back and hit the back wall. It attempted to get up again, but my attack was too much for it. Regice's blue body went limp.

Jade looked at me, a look of accusation on her face. "Emile! Did you kill it?"

"I—I don't know…" I made my way to Regice's body, but before I could examine it, the golem began to glow brightly.

"Oh no… What did you do?!" Jade screamed.

"I swear I didn't do anything!" I cried to Jade.

Regice's body shrunk into a small ball of light that came spiraling towards me. It encased my body, and I was reminded of when I was disappearing… I was being taken away by a golden light… Was I disappearing again?

Luckily for everyone, I wasn't. When the light cleared I was just the same as I was before.

Regice's robotic voice rung out in my head. _"THE GUARDIAN'S PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED. YOU MAY PROCEED."_

The back wall began to rumble, and after much creaking and groaning, it began to slowly lower, revealing a secret passageway onwards.

"Man!" Sparky said. "This place just keeps getting more interesting by the minute!"

"No kidding! So let's go! Onward!" Jade said.

And I led the way through the passage ahead.

The small chamber ahead was nearly identical to the previous one, with a Kangaskhan Rock., a stone tablet, and a dark passageway ahead.

I immediately went for the Kangaskhan Rock, hoping to switch out some of my items. I was about to deposit some Unown Stones when I noticed a note taped up on the rock.

_Hey Team Aura!_

_Just letting you know, we went_

_on ahead. Don't forget this is a_

_race. The first one to find the treasure _

_wins! Good luck!_

_With love, Lopunny._

"Oh, right! We're still having that race!" Jade realized. "Well, dang. We're probably really far behind them. I don't think we'll be able to win."

"Jade, it's not about winning or losing. I'm sure if Team Charm gets the treasure first, they'll share it with us," I said in a reassuring voice.

"Gah, you're right again," Jade muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Anyway, let's just forget about this," I said. I took Team Charm's note off the stone tablet and scanned over the Unown runes on it. This tablet said the same thing as the last one, but under the "submit your proof" part, instead of saying "ICE" it said "ROCK".

_That means that we have to find Unown Stones that spell out "ROCK"… But wait, don't we already have the "O" stone that we need? _I unbuttoned my bag, and sure enough, an "O" Unown stone was sitting right on top of all our Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds. _So we just need to find an "R", another "C", and a "K"!_

"C'mon, guys. Let's go Unown hunting!" I said, walking towards the cave ahead.

"Sure thing!" Jade said.

And I led the way into the Rock chamber of Aegis Cave.

Rock Aegis Cave was practically identical to the Ice part: the same Pokémon, (Unown and the occasional Golbat, and rarely a Machop) the same number of floors, the same look. The only thing that was different was our moods; instead of being perplexed, we were all-knowing and confident.

We got an "E" stone, an "F" stone, and a "P" stone on our first run, and when we reemerged in the waypoint, I had to deposit the extra stones, as I didn't have any more room in my Explorer Bag.

The second time around yielded no more required Unown Stones, but during our third run, we got a "R" stone and a "C" stone.

_Now all we need is a "K" stone…_

Three more tiring runs later, we got the final stone needed for proceeding. We broke into the waypoint once more as I was fishing out the required stones.

"Let's do this!" I said, walking up to the tablet with the Unown Stones in my paws. I closed my eyes, felt the stones heat up and glow, and with a great grinding noise, the staircase leading down appeared. It was even dustier than the last staircase, but there were several fresh footprints in the dust. They were presumably Team Charm's footprints.

We walked down the stairs into a room similar to the chamber where we fought Regice. At the far end of the room, a statue similar to Regice was positioned over the exit. It had some of the same features as Regice: the glowing yellow eyes (this time in the shape of an "H") the long arms, and the small feet, but this one looked like it was made of rocks instead of ice.

"Hey! You!" I called to it. I had no doubt that the golem was a Pokémon in disguise.

The golem's legs and arms creaked as it slowly stood up. The Pokémon took great, lumbering steps towards us.

"W-who are you?" Jade demanded.

"I AM REGIROCK, GUARDIAN OF THE ROCK CHAMBER," it said in a voice reminiscent of Regice's robotic-sounding drone. "IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED, YOU MUST PROVE YOUR STRENGTH."

Jade smirked. "Who do you think you are, Regirock? Messing with a Riolu and a Chikorita that know super effective moves? You sure have guts, old boy!"

"May I do the honors?" I asked.

"Sure thing, Emile," Jade said with a smile.

I began charging up Focus Punch again. I had a feeling that this battle would probably be the same as the last one: I take out a huge statue Pokémon thing with one use of Focus Punch.

Regirock approached me and swung its arm upward, trying to squash me, no doubt, but before it could do that, I unleased Focus Punch and sent the beast flying into the back wall, just like what I did to Regice.

"Sweet!" Jade said, giving me a high five.

"That was way too easy!" Sparky said.

"Yeah, probably because you didn't do anything," Ani-Chan grumbled below her breath.

"Who did all the work here? Me!" I pointed out.

Jade opened her mouth to continue the argument, but she was interrupted by Regirock, as its body was glowing with a luminous light and slowly shrinking into an orb of concentrated light. The orb flew toward me and engulfed me for a brief moment before dissipating.

_ "__THE GUARDIAN'S PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED. YOU MAY PROCEED," _Regirock said in my mind.

The wall ahead of us rumbled and grumbled, slowly lowering into the ground, revealing a passageway onward. I lead the team onward with no hesitation.

We soon found ourselves in another waypoint exactly the same as the two waypoints before us. It had the usual Kangaskhan Rock, the usual tablet, the usual dustiness. The only difference was the writing on the tablet. Underneath the "submit your proof" part was the word "STEEL" in Unown runes.

_So we need an "S" stone—No, wait, I think we already have one in the Kangaskhan Rock, but we still need a "T", two "E"s, and an "L"…_

I called the group together. "Alright, gang. Keep an eye out for 'T', 'E', and 'L' while we're going through this dungeon, okay?" I said in my best strategy voice.

"Sure thing, Emile!" Ani-Chan said brightly.

I deposited some of our unnecessary items into the Kangaskhan Rock, (namely some stones that we didn't need anymore) and when I felt that we were ready, I led the way into the cave ahead.

This part of the dungeon was basically the same as the previous two parts. The Pokémon occupying this section were the same too; a butt-load of Unown, an occasional Golbat, and sometimes, very rarely, a Machop or a Machoke. The only difference was the number of floors. There were a total of four floors as opposed to the three floors of the other areas.

Anyway, I'm gonna do you a favor here and make a very long story short. We had to go through this part of Aegis Cave ten times (well, maybe eleven. I'm not sure) before we had the required stones. It was just… so… monotonous having to go through the same dungeon so many times.

Finally, after going through the dungeon a gazillion times, we got the required stones.

"Whew! I'm glad that's over!" Jade sighed as we walked into the waypoint again.

"Yeah. All we have to do now is hold out our proof and most likely fight another one of those golem guys. I'm guessing this one will be made of steel," I guessed.

"Really? I thought it was going to be made of electricity! Of course it's gonna be made of steel, dingleberry," Jade smirked sarcastically.

"Let's stop with the sarcastic comments and let's submit our proof," Ani-Chan suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea," I said before Jade could continue to argue.

I grabbed the Unown Stones from my bag, approached the stone tablet, closed my eyes, and held out the petrified Unowns. I felt them grow warm and glow as usual, and once more I heard the grinding noise of the staircase appearing. I opened my eyes, registered that the Unown Stones were once again gone, turned to the dusty staircase, and led the team down it.

We found ourselves in a room exactly like the previous rooms: a circular battlefield with a statue guarding the exit. This statue was indeed made of steel, looking more like a robot than a statue. It had long arms, short feet, and glowing, red eyes in the shape of a sort of hexagon.

As we approached the golem, it stood up, making strange whirring and beeping noises that reminded me even more of a robot. Its red eyes flashed as it approached us.

"I AM REGISTEEL, GUARDIAN OF THE STEEL CHAMBER," it said slowly and distinctly. "IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED, YOU MUST PROVE YOUR STRENGTH."

I sighed. "This is just too easy. All of you Regi-whatevers are weak to Fighting type attacks. One Focus Punch and you'll go down. It's always the same outcome. Can't you spice it up a little?"  
"You're complaining about something that's easy?" Jade asked.

"Sometimes being a powerhouse of destruction gets boring," I said as I began charging up Focus Punch for the third time.

Registeel approached me and appeared to brace himself for the attack that I was about to launch. Its metal skin gleamed in the darkness of the battlefield.

I unleashed Focus Punch once again. Registeel took the attack, and much to my surprise he stayed standing instead of flying against the wall like Regirock and Regice. But then his small legs gave way, and the robot collapsed.

I expected it to dissolve into a golden ball of light and surround me again, but its body stayed solid.

"What? What's going on?" I asked as I looked down at Registeel's battered body. "Why isn't it doing the whole guardian permission' thing?"

Just behind Registeel, I saw a small spark in the air. The spark expanded into three separate figures: two humanoid blobs and a rabbit with long fluffy ears…

The spark vanished, leaving behind Lopunny, Gardevoir, and Medicham. They were lying on the ground and pretty battered up, so it was a safe bet that they had lost the battle against Registeel. Then Registeel had somehow teleported them away into some bizarre side dimension or something…

"Gardevoir! Lopunny! Medicham!" I cried, rushing over to the trio. "Are you okay?!"

Lopunny sat up and rubbed her head. "Ugh… What happened?" she groaned.

"I-I don't know… I remember that we were beaten by Registeel, but then it's all fuzzy…" Gardevoir said, also rubbing her head.

"Are you okay? I've got some spare Oran Berries in here if you need them," I offered.

"Oh? Oh, no, we're fine," Medicham said as she slowly got up.

Registeel's lifeless body began to glow, and I braced myself for the guardian permission thing. The golden lights surrounded me, and I heard Registeel's robotic voice echo _"THE GUARDIAN'S PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED. YOU MAY PROCEED," _in my head. The wall in front of us grinded open, permitting us to continue.

Lopunny brushed herself off. "Thanks for helping us, Team Aura. But don't forget: this is still a race. We're still win, you know!"

Jade growled. "Oh, it' on!"

"See ya around, Jade," Medicham sneered.

"Come on, girls!" Lopunny said. With another one of her fantastic winks at me, she led her team into the gloom ahead.

"I'm gonna win this thing if it's the last thing I do!" Jade growled. Before I could say anything to stop her, she darted forward, instantly getting lost in the dark cavern ahead. Sparky, Ani-Chan and I followed her.

We soon found ourselves in another waypoint, but this waypoint didn't have the usual stone tablet, implying that we didn't have to go through the whole "find the Unown Stones" thing again. Jade seemed very relieved about this.

After a brief recuperation at the waypoint, we were ready to go on.

This part of Aegis Cave was practically identical to the last part of the cave. Unowns still challenged us, and they still occasionally turned to stone, but I had the feeling that we didn't have to pick them up.

I was starting to get very tired of this dungeon. We just found Unown Stones, fought a golem Pokémon that fell with one Focus Punch, and repeated. I wanted a change. I wanted something interesting to happen! Sheesh!

Turns out something interesting did happen after the fifth floor. We found ourselves on a large battlefield with several statues of Pokémon at the far end. I recognized four of the statues as Bronzongs, and the other four… I think they were statues of Pokémon called Hitmonlee.

In the dead center of the room was a colossal statue that faintly reminded me of the Regis that we had previously faced, though this one was much bigger, had humongous arms and legs, and otherwise looked much more powerful.

Team Charm was waiting for us. Lopunny, Gardevoir and Medicham were smiling and appeared to be recovering from their trip through the dungeon.

"Hey, you four," Lopunny greeted with a smile.

"How's it going?" Jade asked.

"Not good. We seemed to have reached a dead end here," Gardevoir said.

"Maybe these statues hold the secret to continuing!" Medicham said. She walked up to the behemoth in the center of the room and shouted "Hey! You! Open up!"

She really shouldn't have done that.

The gigantic statue in the middle began to move. I felt like a dwarf as the middle statue towered over us, cracking its knuckles.

**"****I AM WHO SEEK THE TREASURES SLEEPING IN THE GROUND… SHOW ALL OF YOUR POWER!" **the huge statue roared. The Hitmonlee and the Bronzong shuddered to life and began to advance on us.

"Oh, we don't have any chance of beating them alone!" I moaned.

"Hey! Don't worry! We'll help you if you'd like!" Lopunny offered.

"Sure!" I said immediately.

"Okay!" Lopunny turned to Regigigas. "Are you ready? 'Cause here we come!" The rabbit leapt up at Regigigas, ready for battle, and our fight began.

I figured my Focus Punch strategy wouldn't really work this time, as I very seriously doubted that Regigigas would succumb to it as easily as the other Regis did. I decided to go the safer route and attacked a nearby Hitmonlee with Force Palm. Jade followed up with Magical Leaf and Hitmonlee number one went down.

Ani-Chan and Sparky also decided to focus on a Hitmonlee, as attacking the Bronzongs wouldn't be very effective. Ani-Chan used Giga Drain to absorb the energy of a Hitmonlee. Sparky rushed in, surrounded with electricity, and zapped the Hitmonlee into oblivion.

Meanwhile, Team Charm had decided to focus on Regigigas. Lopunny was speeding around and punching the monster whenever there was a blind spot. Gardevoir was using her psychic attacks to weaken the monster, while Medicham viciously assaulted the behemoth with Force Palm. Medicham's attacks seemed to do more damage, which led me to believe that Regigigas was a Normal type.

I decided to try out my Focus Punch strategy on Regigigas, but I never really got the chance. Just before I began charging up the attack, Medicham got in another hit with Force Palm. Regigigas roared and began to teeter.

"Hit the deck!" I cried.

We all dove to the ground and covered our head as Regigigas's gigantic body flopped down with a mighty _THUD_, crushing an unfortunate Bronzong.

The rest of the battle was smooth sailing. Sparky remembered to use Discharge, which greatly weakened all the Pokémon in the room. One hit from us and they'd be history.

The battle was still pretty tiring, however. The last Hitmonlee nearly knocked me out with one of its fierce kicks, and I needed an Oran Berry and Gardevoir's Psychic type attacks to take down the Pokémon.

Later on, Ani-Chan got hit with a Bronzong's Psychic type attack, and she was defeated. Luckily for her we had a Reviver Seed to spare.

Finally the last Bronzong was defeated.

Team Charm and my teammates all stood back, waiting for something to happen. But nothing happened.

"Um… Is something supposed to be happening?" Jade asked.

Right on cue, a bright flash illuminated the arena, blinding us all. When the light cleared, we found that a stone tablet had somehow appeared in front of Regigigas's body.

"What is that?" Jade asked.

"I don't know…" I said.

I walked up to the tablet and wasn't surprised to find Unown runes carved onto it. But that didn't bother me in the slightest; I was pretty fluent in Unown runes by now.

I read the runes aloud to my fellow companions. "It says… 'To open the way to the treasure… close your eyes and… allow your aura to flow into the ground.'…"

We all stood there, puzzled by what it meant for your "aura to flow into the ground." I remembered Chatot had once told me that all Pokémon have aura, but Riolus like myself could "control aura" if we were experienced enough. So did that mean that only I could let my "aura flow into the ground"?

_Calm down, Emile, _I thought. _You're overthinking this. Just relax… Close your eyes… Let your aura flow into the ground…_

I shut my eyes and relaxed, clearing my head of any confusing thoughts. After a moment I felt a curious feeling. I felt like my energy was being drained out of me… into the floor. It didn't hurt, but it was a very odd experience and I was rather grateful when I felt the feeling subside.

I opened my eyes to find that absolutely nothing had happened. There wasn't a luminous glow coming from me or anything unoriginal like that.

"What was the point of doing that?" I asked to no one in particular.

Another few minutes of awkward silence passed with nothing happening. But then, quite suddenly, a large shock wave burst forward from the stone. The shock wave nearly knocked me down, but I barely managed to stay on my feet.

The shock wave rippled over Regigigas, and I heard a strange beeping noise that also sounded like a grunting noise. My stomach churned. I bent my legs and I clenched my fists, ready to spring into action.

Regigigas slowly began to haul itself up off the ground, finally getting off the squashed Bronzong that it had fallen on. It roared in outrage and looked like it was ready to pulverize us.

"Oh schist!" Jade cursed.

"N-no! Don't tell me it's back for another round!" Lopunny cried.

Regigigas's fingers curled into a massive fist. I took a deep breath and braced myself for the hit, but it never came. Instead Regigigas punched the ground with a force that made the ruins shake.

"Wah! I think the ruins are gonna collapse!" Gardevoir exclaimed.

"Everyone! Run for your lives!" Lopunny cried.

We didn't need telling twice. We charged out of the cave, not looking back.

I don't really remember how we got out of the cave. I just remember running, only pausing at the occasional branching path. Soon we had somehow found our way out of the cave.

Needless to say, it was a relief to be able to breathe fresh air after the dankness of Aegis Cave.

I flopped over a nearby Kangaskhan Rock. "Whew!" I sighed breathlessly.

"Are we all here?" Jade panted. Her eyes scanned our small crowd, and when she was assured that everyone had made it out, she let out a sigh of relief.

"All accounted for," Gardevoir reported.

"Good." Then a realization crept over me. "Wait! We didn't find the treasure! Regigigas said that there was treasure… but we never got it! And now the ruins are collapsed and—"

Gardevoir placed her hand on my shoulder and laughed airily. "Calm down, Emile. For one, the ruins haven't collapsed. Or at least, it hasn't collapsed as far as I can tell." She gestured toward the entrance, and I found she was right; instead of a pile of rubble as I had expected, on the contrary, the ruins seemed to be completely intact.

"And haven't you noticed? There is treasure after all. It's just not the treasure you may have expected," Lopunny said. She gestured over to a hill of dirt and rocks to my right.

Before we delved into the depths of the cave, I had noticed that abnormally large hill. I didn't pay much attention to it when we first came to these ruins, but now I could see that a large hole had opened up, revealing…

"Another dungeon?" I asked.

"Yes! That must be the real treasure of Aegis Cave!" Lopunny said.

_So that must be where the REAL treasure is, _I thought. _Clever idea, really. I never would've thought about that._

"Cool beans," Jade said.

"Anyway, shouldn't we get going? There's plenty more treasure that we should go looking for," Medicham said.

"Yes. Good point." Lopunny turned to us with a mixture of triumph and sadness. "Well… I guess this is goodbye for now," she said.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon," Jade said with a smile.

"Thanks for exploring with us, Team Aura! It was a real pleasure!" Lopunny said.

"Any time!" I said.

Lopunny gave me one of her signature winks. "So long!" she said. Then she turned around and led Team Charm away.

XxX

**We're getting up to the really good part... You just have to wait for it. #troll**


End file.
